Facebook Warning: Activities That Could Get You Banned

It's common for people to use a nickname or pseudonym when they join online communities. Many people will only provide a fake date-of-birth, if they provide one at all. That's understandable, since you might want to protect your privacy.

Unfortunately, these practices can get you banned from Facebook. You must provide your real name and DOB. Don't even use a nickname you go by in real life.

Also, your true name needs to sound "authentic" to Facebook. If your parents named you Beta, or if you're a British member of Parliament, Facebook could give you the boot.

Supporting Links:

• Facebook User Banned for Using Nickname: Jon Swift is a political blogger who tried to use Facebook. Unfortunately, "Jon Swift" is his pseudonym.


• What's in a Facebook Name? A woman is prevented from creating a Facebook account because the system doesn't approve of her real name.


• Facebook apologizes for suspending British member of Parliament as fake: Facebook just couldn't believe that someone like Steve Webb would create an account on a social networking site.

Facebook only allows individuals to have accounts. No corporations, no businesses, no organizations, no cats, no dogs. If you're not a flesh-and-blood human, you're out. No, you may not open up an account for your pet hamster, no matter how popular he is.

On the plus side, you should be able to create a Facebook Social Ad or Page for your organization. Facebook might even be kind enough to let you create a page about your famous hamster.

Supporting links:

• Facebook: How do I create a business account? Facebook's official answer to those who wish to create business accounts.
• Facebook shuts down my cow's account: Facebook was not pleased when someone created an account for his cow.

It's against the rules to create more than one Facebook account. To quote Willy Wonka, "Everyone has had one, and one is enough for anyone." Facebook may terminate all your accounts if you're caught doing this, although in a lot of cases they just delete the "dupe" account.

By the same token, multiple people aren't allowed to use the same Facebook account. Don't invite your pal to log into your account... but this is sensible advice anyway.

Yes, it's true, Facebook has banned members for adding too many friends, or at least for adding too many friends "too fast." What's ironic about this is that Facebook makes it possible for you to invite a bunch of people at once by importing your address book. If Facebook decides you have a ridiculous number of contacts, you could find your account disabled.

Apparently Facebook has also banned people for being too active. If you spend a lot of time writing on your friends' walls, it could trigger Facebook's spam alert.

To avoid problems, you should only add a few friends at a time. Don't be too post-happy. Try not to be too popular.

Supporting links:

• Popular Recruiter and Blogger Gets Banned: If you have a lot of contacts in your address book, this is a good example of why you should think twice about importing them all to Facebook.


• Free the Blackadder one! A union organizer is banned for adding too many friends.


• Facebook Ban: Banned From Inviting Friends and Sending Messages: Another blogger gets the Facebook backlash.

There have been a couple of reports that Facebook removed some videos for containing copyrighted material. The videos themselves were homemade, but they were jazzed up with copyrighted soundtracks. One example included a short video of two cats wrestling to the music "Doing It Right" by the Go Team.

If you do upload any videos to Facebook, make sure they don't infringe on any copyright laws. Use public domain music instead.

Supporting Links:

• Facebook Killed My Cat Wrestling Video


• Copyright Warning from Facebook

Until recently, homeschooled kids weren't allowed to have an account on Facebook. They even suspended some homeschoolers' accounts. But it looks like they changed the rules. This is from their official rule book:

If you are homeschooled, you can still register with Facebook. You do not need to specify a high school when registering with Facebook or using the site.

In order to have an account on Facebook, you either need to be at least 18, or you need to be at least 13 and enrolled in high school. And yes, you have to be able to prove that you attend this school. Since it's difficult for Facebook to confirm that sort of thing for homeschoolers, they take the easy route and ban any homeschooled kids they discover on the network.

Unfortunately, it's not enough to provide the name of your local public school. Facebook will eventually try to confirm this, and if it turns out that you don't attend that school, Facebook will disable your account.

Supporting links:

• Facebook | I'm homeschooled. How can I join? This is Facebook's official answer to homeschooled children who are interested in getting an account.


• Does Facebook Discriminate Against Homeschoolers? An article from Washingtonpost.com

As long as you don't use Facebook heavily, and as long as you follow all the rules, you'll probably be OK. However, I wouldn't depend on Facebook for all my business or professional contacts.

If Facebook becomes your primary means of staying in touch with people you know, you would be in a fix if Facebook ever decided to disable your account. Have a plan B. Make backups of your data and explore other social networking options.