What a good reminder though.

These things happen. Twitter accounts are suspended. Facebook profiles hacked into. What can you do?

My friend’s suspension could easily have been related to a spam cloud or problems with his hosting service (this happened to one of my clients as he started using Twitter). Unfortunately, my friend’s only recourse was to file a support ticket and wait for Twitter’s response. As it turns out, he was reinstated and back in business by the end of the day.

It’s happened before.

In July, Twitter mistakenly suspended hundreds of accounts, among them some of the big names in social media. The accounts were reinstated after several hours, when it became clear that a mistake had been made. Mari Smith was among those whose account was suspended in July and she blogged about some of the lessons she learned from her temporary suspension. Losing her account made her aware of how important twitter had become as a filter for information for her business. At the same time, she realized that “Twitter is only one platform for visibility, branding, community building and connecting.” Mari’s Facebook and other social networks served her well during the short time that her Twitter account was suspended. She stresses that even though these social networks are completely free they should never be taken for granted.

At about the same time, Denise Wakeman, of the BlogSquad, had her Facebook account hacked while she was involved in a daylong seminar. I was on Facebook as it happened and watched the dialogue between Denise and her hacker (truly bizarre). The person hacking into her Facebook posted that Denise was stranded in London and began soliciting money from her many Facebook friends.

Denise quickly posted a note informing her Facebook community of what had happened and many of us tweeted the information for her. She was able to communicate with her networks using her other social networking sites, her blog, and email. In blogging about the experience Denise reminds us not to put all of our social media eggs in one basket. She stresses the importance of being active on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn (and I would add YouTube) and of connecting with friends, colleagues, fans and followers–on all of them. She also cautions us. Although these  networks offer tremendous value, we have no control over them. When one goes down, or a profile is suspended, being able to continue your conversations via the other communities you belong to is essential.

This weekend’s Twitter suspension are a valuable reminder that the only sites we really have control over are our own. Remember to use your social networking to meet people, build relationships with them and then invite them to join you at your blog or website. Offer them content that they find informative, valuable, compelling or useful and they will return. They may even become your next best customer or client.

Is there anything you can do to safeguard your Twitter account? While there are no assurances, taking these steps will help:

• Read Twitter’s  Terms of Service (TOS). They have recently been revised, and although they are not as specific as we might wish, you should take time to familiarize yourself with them. Twitter is cracking down on spammers and those who violate the TOS.

• Backup your Twitter account. TweetBackup is easy to use, no installation is required and it backs up your tweets and followers lists.

• Be cautious giving our your Twitter user name, email and password to third part applications (especially those that promise: “more followers fast”).

Steps you should take if your account has been suspended:

• Go to Twitter Support and file a claim ticket or send an email to suspended@twitter.com but DON’T DO BOTH!

• Use your email, blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and other social networking sites to stay connected and keep your networks updated.

• Visit Twitter Search and check for #Suspended. Other Twitter users may be affected by the same thing

• Check Twitter’s Help Page for hacked or compromised accounts

Remember this is not personal and may have nothing to do with you at all. Accounts can be suspended for many reasons and Twitter works hard to evaluate risk and reinstate accounts quickly. Focus on your other social networking and blogging activities until you have updated information about your account.

Most of the accounts suspended over the weekend were reinstated by the end of the day. I haven’t heard what caused this rash of suspensions but I’m fairly certain it wil happen again.

Will you be prepared?

If you found this post helpful, please a take a minute and share it with your network. Thanks.

We will miss her so much.

Our family has lost three beloved family members in the past nine months. I have used social media to post about each loss and have been genuinely touched by the condolences I have received. During difficult times a kind message can make a world of difference.

Each of us makes decisions on how much of our private lives to reveal in our social media conversations. How much is pertinent? How much is too much? I was moved recently by Mari Smith’s post, “Choosing to Share My Private Journey—a Transparent Update”. It can’t have been easy to write. It only served to deepen my respect for her and her commitment to social networking and transparency.

Sharing personal information with our social media networks can help strengthen the relationships we are building. The groundswell of support I have received over the past few days is evidence of that. We are using social media to build business relationships, improve customer service, provide value, increase traffic, conduct market research, promote new ideas, connect and engage with people all over the world. At the same time, we are using social media to help one another, raise money for causes we believe in, and make each other laugh.

Recently, one of my Twittermates had a family crisis and asked for help from our local Twitter community. Her daughter was missing for several days and with the help of our Twittermates she was able to find her and bring her home. It was an amazing local demonstration of the power of social networking and of people’s desire—and ability—to help.

Sometimes the value we offer each other in social media is more than the information we share. It is the genuine caring.

Thank you for all of your support.

How I lost my Facebook profile (and how you can avoid doing the same thing)

So six weeks ago I lost my Facebook profile. The one with more than 700 friends and scores of carefully chosen and shared bookmarks—designed to position me as having a real grasp on how to use social media marketing to build business. You know the one. You may even have been one of my friends.

It happened because I was moving too fast, trying to be overly helpful to a client and not thinking. I had read the terms of service. I understood them yet, in my haste to be helpful, I deleted my own email. In that moment my profile disappeared. Poof! Gone.

I was mortified. Until I learned how many others have lost their own Facebook profiles and pages–and then I felt less alone. I emailed Facebook. I contacted every department I could think of. After about 3 ½ weeks I received an email from them to which I responded eagerly. That was 2 ½ weeks ago. I am still waiting to hear back from them.

Last week I decided to start over again. I am fortunate to have backed up my friend list (thanks to Mari Smith who showed me what to do) and am methodically rebuilding my Facebook network. Unfortunately, I cannot replace the bookmarks. I am not aware of an application that saves Facebook posts and bookmarks-yet.

How can you prevent this from happening to you? (Other than not deleting your own email, of course)

Start by reading the terms of service. Seriously. Facebook states very clearly what they will and will not allow. Make sure you, or your social media consultants, understand the rules. For example, you can’t create a profile for your business. If you have, you are in danger of having that profile removed without warning. You can (and should) create a Facebook page to promote your business.

Be careful how quickly you build your Facebook network. Don’t send out hundreds of friend requests at the same time. Some big names in social media have had profiles and fan pages deleted because they sent out too many emails and were perceived as spamming.

Finally, use the Facebook application Friends Backup to back up your friends list. The application still has bugs but I have used it successfully for myself and my clients. Rebuilding will be so much easier if you should lose your profile or page.

Have you read the terms of service yet? Is your company in compliance? Take a moment to be sure.

And join me on Facebook at http://facebook.com/allenmireles. I look forward to connecting with you.