FaceBook Horror

Open for Business: Episode 12 On this episode of Open for Business, hear from special guest Jonathan Rivera, who is the owner of The Official Real Estate Referral Group on Facebook with over 47,000 fans. The goal of this group is to connect like-minded real estate agents who are looking to grow their businesses via referrals and social media. For example, the page is used as a messaging system to alert agents about referral business if, say, an agent in Florida has a buyer for a property in California. Jonathan’s fan page was taken down by Facebook because the name of his unique URL—which used to be http://facebook.com/socialrealtors—was required by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to use the trademark symbol REALTOR®. The NAR had sent an email stating that they didn’t want the group to be disbanded, but just to make the change to the URL. Two years ago when Jonathan set up the page, he didn’t think about the implications of using the trademarked word REALTOR®. After the NAR contacted him, he sent in the request to Facebook to change the URL, but instead of allowing him to make the change, his 47,000+ fan base vanished into thin air. Jonathan then decided to enlist the power of social media to get the word out to help get his page restored. He asked different people to share a blog post by Tech Savvy Agent on their Facebook walls. It was amazing the number of people sharing his story. It showed up numerous times in my Facebook news feed. I decided to take his story to Twitter and sent this tweet to a person of influence: @MariSmith Any advice that I can pass on to my bud? Facebook Shuts Down Page with 47,000+ Fans Boy, did this tweet start to go viral! Scobleizer even retweeted the story. The great thing is that Mari knew of a way to get Facebook’s attention. She was able to use her influence to get others to act. Everyone pulled together and did a spectacular job to help the cause; however, I believe Mari’s influence had a major role in the 1-day turnaround of his page being reinstated. Jonathan made a great thank-you video for everyone who helped to get his page reinstated. (by Naomi Trower of Social Media Examiner) Also you will hear from a very successful business owner in the Upsate of South Carolina Rush Wilson III owner of Rush Wilson Ltd. They specialize in Customized Fine Men's and Women's clothing in Downtown Greenville, SC. You can follow the Open for Business Twitter feed at #Open4Biz. Your show host are Jay Handler and Trey Pennington.