I am seeking re-election to the Newburyport city council and actively sending Facebook messages to people who live in my town to 1) introduce myself and 2) inquire if they would like to be my friend.
Yesterday I sent nearly 80 friend requests over the course of the day and over two thirds responded positively to being friends.
Today is a different story.
I sent more requests to both local citizens and many internet personalities whose blogs I read and who know me, folks such as Wayne John and Kirsten Wright and Justin Levy — and Facebook slapped me on the wrist and blocked me from sending friend requests or writing messages to non-friends for a period of 7 days.
When I wrote about the block on my wall, I received a harder slap and a 14-day block which you can see in the screenshot above.
Note that it is unlikely I was marked as a spammer by the people I wrote. Rather, I’ll bet Facebook the system marked me a spammer for sending so many messages to non-friends in a short amount of time.
I don’t know what will happen if you send me a friend request.
If I know who you are, I’ll confirm the friendship. The question is whether Facebook will enable me to confirm it. I think during these next 14 days, I can’t request you but you should be able to request me.
That is, if you want to be friends.
Thank you for reading!