As a lot of you might know already, I lost access to my Facebook due to someone reporting my name as fake, a few days ago.
So to make my point, I’ll tell you the results and issues I had to do this before I make a point.
This happened then I was on the flyer to New York and cause me to panic a bit. Especially as I was using the messenger mainly as a cheap communications tool and my mother was probably panicking as well, as my friends would also not know what was happening, so the first result was issues and strains on relationships and fear in my family.
The next issue was that I was unable to login into a lot of my other accounts as I used Facebook as a credential to log into a lot of them, this ranged from my Instagram, Whatsapp, websites, online shops to even Business important things.
So I was not only cut off from friends and family, but also from business and impossible to keep up with demands there.
All of this despite having connections via former colleagues into Facebooks Security Teams, even via Facebook itself.
My account was also neither new nor dodgy nor was I employing a fake name. Which ould be extremly common in Germany and is there huge discussion.
So I reached out to my friends working at Facebook via LinkedIn after I uploaded my ID via their help center and not hearing back for a few hours, they internally escalated the process and assured me that I’d get my access back, but still, it might take a few days.
So, in the end, all came right, and I regained access within 48 hours, but these 48 hours caused severe stress and through me back two days in a private business endeavor, and caused a lot of strain on relationships. I also had to get through the process of regaining access to all kind of other accounts including, Kickstarter, Instagram, Klout and a few other ones.
So, in the end, I learned the hard way that you will lose not only access to Facebook but all accounts, you conveniently used Facebook to create or you access via Facebook login.
The other which is even more shocking is that I realized how much we depend nowadays on online services to remain in contact even with our real live friends.
So the result for me is that I will no longer use my Social media accounts to login into other services there possible and use single individual logins besides the inconvenience it causes. This could, however, be easily rectified if Facebook would not block this part of the account but let’s say just the interaction of your account on Facebook itself, and Facebook does have here more responsibility then it things and should be held accountable to do this.
The other result for me or rather follow up is that I will maintain my a dress book much more myself and diversify my social media use much more to different providers and away from Facebook.
Do not get me wrong. I am still and will always be a big fan of social media and will continue to use Facebook and be engaged there, and I am very thankful for the easy handling and excellent and friendly and understanding resolution of this issue. The same also could happen with any other big social network like Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn, So there must be a political and legal accountability for these services and access to these networks or at least the access to other networks and services if signed up via one of these, even if the account is restricted.