Can You Block a Competitor’s Links From Appearing on Facebook?

A while back, I set up a Facebook page for my blog. At the moment, there are 177 “followers” of Elliot’s Blog on Facebook, all of whom opted in to be a “follower.” Although I do have a bit of dialog on the Facebook wall, I prefer to discuss articles on my blog since the readership is far greater and it would be more information for others to read.

I often post links to articles from my blog on this Facebook page’s wall to let people know that a new post has gone up. I don’t post links to my articles on my personal Facebook page because I can assure you that none of my friends care about what I am posting on my business blog. Therefore, the only people who should see these links are those who have opted in to my Facebook page or perhaps others if someone else posted a link on their own wall.

Yesterday afternoon, I tried to post a link to a new article and received an error message when I tried: “This message contains blocked content that has previously been flagged as abusive or spammy.  Let us know if you think this is an error.”

I assume this means someone reported a link to my blog as spam. I don’t believe a “competitor” actually reported the link, but having this happen leads me to believe a competitor could easily do this to another company (or ask someone unrelated to do it) and have the other company’s links blocked. This can be problematic for a company that is spending a considerable amount of money sending users to its Facebook page.

It shouldn’t be too difficult for a company to prove to Facebook that its links aren’t “abusive or spammy,” but if a company is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a well-timed marketing campaign, losing the ability to post links for a few hours or possibly days can be damaging.

I reported this issue to Facebook, and hopefully someone will look into it to see that my posting links to articles on my blog directly on my blog’s opt-in Facebook wall is not spammy nor is it abusive.

Secret Contest: 25,000th Comment

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that my blog was coming close to receiving its 25,000th comment and I wanted to do something fun when that happened. I didn’t want to broadcast this because it would likely encourage superfluous comments, and I didn’t want that to happen.

I had a “secret contest” on my blog that only I knew about. I decided that the person who made the 25,000th comment would receive something that I use every day and couldn’t be a domain investor without. The winner will receive a one year paid membership to DomainTools (Standard), courtesy of me (disclosure: I am paying for this and not getting a discount).

This membership includes the following tools:

The winner is a person who has commented regularly on my blog who uses the nickname “Poor Uncle.” I’ve sent him an email and will coordinate with DomainTools to set him up with the account. It might take a few days to get going because I am on vacation, but I will connect with Susan and Monica at DomainTools to make it happen ASAP.

I really want to thank you all for visiting my blog and contributing with your comments. I believe a blog is only as good as its readers’ contributions, and I really appreciate your making my blog a much more interesting place to read and learn.

Craig Rowe Raising Money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation

As you know by now, I have a soft spot for organizations that help children with cancer. I am a supporter of the Ronald McDonald House, and with your help earlier this year, my wife and I raised just shy of $8,000 – $3,000 more than our goal.

I just learned that Craig Rowe of WhyPark is raising money for Make A Wish of Greater Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. On August 7th, 2011, Craig will be participating in the Cleveland Triathlon, where he will swim half a mile, bike 16 miles, and run 3.1 miles. I only wish I was closer so I could watch this actually happen.

Craig is looking to raise $6,000 for Make A Wish, which is the average cost of making one child’s wish come true. If it’s been a good year for you so far, I hope you will consider making a donation to this worthy cause. Craig’s a good dude and the organization he’s raising funds for does great things.

I’ll even personally match up to $500 in donations that you make to him today. Just drop a note and let me know you donated. Like when I was raising funds for Ronald McDonald House, every single donation counts and helps.

Judgment Day? Maybe for FamilyRadio.com

I am sorry for those of you who have been spending your money like there’s no tomorrow, thinking that today would be judgment day and the rapture would be coming. Thankfully, that didn’t seem to happen… at least I don’t think it happened.

Unfortunately for the people who have been preaching that judgment day would be today (May 21, 2011), it appears that the organization’s website is down for the count. According to the DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com website, it appears that FamilyRadio.com is down.

I don’t know if it’s down because its servers were hit with too much traffic, or perhaps it really was judgment day for the website. Whatever the case may be, the site doesn’t seem to be loading right now.

Sharing Some Personal News

I guess the nice thing about having a blog, is that I can share some personal news.  Yesterday afternoon, my wife completed her five year graduate school program and was awarded her doctorate in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.). She will now be known as Dr. Silver, so we are a Mr. and Dr. family – or is that Dr. and Mr.?

Once Karen finishes her year-long post-doctoral fellowship beginning in August, she will likely begin her own practice. I know a lot of people in this business can surely some psychological help, so just drop me a note if I should pencil you in for an appointment.

Karen will certainly make good use of KarenSilver.com, which was given to her as a wedding present from Rick Latona and his team after acquiring it from a company of the same name.

Congrats to Karen for her hard work!

Win an iPad 2 from Escrow.com

I take my iPad just about everywhere when I am away from home. It’s one of those things that I didn’t realize I need to have until I actually had one. Now you have a chance to win a free iPad 2 courtesy of Escrow.com.

Escrow.com is currently running a Facebook-based contest, and one lucky winner will receive a new Apple iPad 2. To enter, visit the Escrow.com Facebook page and post about something you bought or sold using Escrow.com or something you bought or sold but wished you had used Escrow.com. For a second entry in this contest, you can post a picture of the aforementioned item.

If you’ve used Escrow.com for a domain purchase or sale, post it. There’s no need to post the price, so all you need to do is post the item. I think I am going to enter the contest and post a screenshot of DogWalker.com, since I bought the domain name using Escrow.com.

Entries must be posted by May 22, 2011, and the drawing will be held on May 23, 2011. Limit one normal and one picture entry per person. Employees and family of employees are not eligible. Winner chosen by a random drawing.
Escrow.com