Losing a social account and a community built over years – how do you protect your account?
Yesterday, I had an unpleasant experience. For a few minutes, I lost my LinkedIn community of several thousand people (TL;DR: I was falsely accused of using suspicious software).
Fortunately, I got my account back – but it was a strong reminder that we don’t own platforms, nor our profiles on them.
The only safeguards that came to mind were:
Building relationships with internal employees of the platforms
Growing an email list
Creating a backup account and growing it in parallel
Exploring decentralised social networks
How would you handle and protect against situations like this?
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vibecoder.date
I have accidentally hedged against this by not having a large presence.
Email list and backups are the first that come to my mind.
Owning a social media platform. (as in building or white labeling your own) is a lot of work and time spent. Not sure if it's worth it. Decentralized networks are good, I like some of the mastodon servers.
Aside from all of that, having a loyal community on your own forums, (like oldschool forums we used to have), would be the best bet imo.
Something like https://www.phpbb.com/about/ or https://mybb.com/ Also https://github.com/discourse/discourse if you want a more modern community.
Self hosting will give you control but it comes with responsibilities.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@build_with_aj I wish to have those communities more UX/UI friendly :D
vibecoder.date
@busmark_w_nika I get that, they look and feel like they are right out of a mid 2000s fever dream.
We need same functionality but with modern UX, and PWA capabilities.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@build_with_aj Yes, because people who are not into coding/programming etc. will not be so attracted to use the technology. That's why UI/UX matter more than we think.
I've always thought about how fickle the nature of social media is. A platform that is at the forefront of the cultural zeitgeist one day can be defunct and relegated the next. My personal approach has been to avoid forming attachments to any particular brand/app where I can. I try to keep all my personal memories/photos and backed up and mentally accept that the rest will be gone one day and I'm glad to enjoy it now.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@tiasabs this is so raw approach, I like it. Tho I usually fail at keeping memories in my external drive :D I damaged that one :D
I am glad you got your account back that sounds truly scary!
I try to limit this risk somewhat by running email with my own domain and not tying up services through accounts that could break everything should they suddenly be blocked. My Gmail account for example really is just used for Google services but not connected to anything else that would be critical. There are too many horror stories of people losing everything. But of course this would not help in the event of your account being deactivated on LinkedIn or similar networks.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@jpell For that reason, you also should have more email accounts, one for testing, another for newsletter, business, personal, for "fraud" things etc.
Raycast
Man, that's so stressful.
I get password reset requests literally everyday for my Instagram account. It's maddening to know that hackers want it so bad.
In terms of safeguards:
Always turn on 2 factor authentication or use Passkeys.
Verify your account.
Consider adopting the POSSE method: "Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere"
Keep an alt or backup account just in case!
But also, it is important to be wary of using too many tools or automation services to boost engagement. I'm not suggesting that you did this, but "you" aren't the problem... it's everyone else wanting cheap engagement and "number go up" that pollutes the space for the rest of us, and causes these platforms to have an adversarial relationship with all of their users, including the well-meaning ones. 😮💨
Glad you got your account back!
minimalist phone: creating folders
@chrismessina Thank you, Chris. To be honest, I got a mini-heart attack when they cancelled me, but I wouldn't have a problem starting over again :D
Regarding plugins or tools, I do not use any, but I have many downloaded as I test every single thing :D So maybe that was the trigger, anyway, will reconsider buying a premium as it enables being less strict with limits (e.g. of messages, connection requests etc.)
Wow, that is quite scary! I have been a follower of people like Amy Porterfield and the likes of her for years (since nobody knew their name) and they have always been preaching that the only thing you own is your e-mail list. It is quite true, but also extremely difficult I feel, considering the 10 other newsletters people are automatically subscribed to from any product they use, that they are not so enticed anymore to join a new one.
minimalist phone: creating folders
@celiner The thing is that I have a newsletter, but many people do not open it. My subscribers for the newsletter are a totally different audience.
@busmark_w_nika I have to say I find it so hard too! I launched my LinkedIn Newsletter and it was so easy to launch and get going and grow it. With my own newsletter outside of another platform it feels so hard to grow :/