All of a sudden, I’m getting a dialog box when I log in to my Facebook account that says I can’t send friend requests for the next week. WTH? I don’t think I’m abusing it, but building my social network is kind of the point of Facebook so why have they blocked me?
Ah yes, the fun of social networks and building what Mark Zuckerberg calls your “social graph”. Problem is, while most of us only send friend requests to people we know or have met, others view the chance to establish a connection with others as an opportunity for mischief and mayhem. Well, maybe that’s a bit strong, let’s say an opportunity to expand their social circle online far beyond their actual social circle. You know what I’m talking about because we all receive unwanted messages and newsfeed updates from people we barely remember connecting with and certainly now question that connection given what they’re selling, evangelizing or promoting.
Now I don’t know your situation so I’m certainly not saying that you’re a spammer or doing anything nefarious or inappropriate. On the other hand, when someone gets a friend request on Facebook and rejects it, they can also optionally indicate that they have no idea who that person is (the “do you know this person in real life?” question).
Get a few people rejecting your friend requests and indicating that they don’t know who you are and Facebook’s anti-spam system kicks into place, with the result being that you get a message like this:
Definitely not good news.
Here’s what Facebook says about this:
“If your account is temporarily blocked from sending friend requests, it may be because friend requests you’ve sent have gone unanswered or been marked as unwelcome. In the future, you should send friend requests to people you have a real-life connection to, like your friends, family, coworkers, or classmates. Make sure to use your real name and picture to help the people you’re messaging recognize you.
If you’re interested in receiving updates from people you find interesting, but don’t know personally (ex: journalists, celebrities, political figures), try following them instead of sending them friend requests.”
That’s smart advice. If you have a photo of a tree and a name like “John Doe” or “Your Best Friend”, then even if it’s all legit and an inside joke among your circle, you’re still quite likely to have those friend request rejected and people tag you as unknown potential spammer.
Otherwise, if you’re shooting out friend requests to people you’ve met in passing, well, then you need to be more memorable or perhaps wait for them to friend request you.
Good luck. Seven days isn’t that long a time to wait. Next time it’ll be 30 days, so be careful with your requests!
I’m getting the same message, but I have not made any friends requests in several months. I’m also not able to advance to my home page. Any suggestions?