2 ms·

>If the only way I can interact with a business is through Facebook, that's a business telling me they don't want me as a customer [...] I've very rarely encoun

by jasode 2y ago

>If the only way I can interact with a business is through Facebook, that's a business telling me they don't want me as a customer [...] I've very rarely encountered that, I encounter it often because I deal with small contractors for home services and repairs and Facebook is how they reach new customers. I used the word "businesses" but it is giving a false elevated impression that these local services are bigger than they actually are. The "business" is often just 1 guy. And the "business phone number" is just the guy's personal cell number. I hired a father-and-son business to replace some doors in the house and the only "website" they had was their Facebook page. Sure, the "Mr HandyMan" national franchise chains have "real websites" but hiring them also costs more. I'd rather hire the computer-illiterate father&son duo who knows how to replace my doors for a fair price rather than reject them just because don't know how to buy a domain name + website and relies on Facebook for customers to reach them. Similar situation with other "small businesses" like local yoga instructors, etc. They rely on Facebook pages instead of real websites.

JohnFen 2y ago
> I encounter it often because I deal with small contractors for home services and repairs and Facebook is how they reach new customers. I deal more with small businesses than large myself, but I've never been unable to find their phone number. However, as I said, if Facebook really is the only way to talk to these people, then these people clearly don't want my business anyway. Their loss, not mine.
- jasode 2y ago
  > but I've never been unable to find their phone number. However, as I said, if Facebook really is the only way to talk to these people, Sorry for the misunderstanding. I'm not communicating with home repair contractors exclusively via Facebook Messaging. I'm talking about browsing potential contractors to hire and the only so-called "website" they happen to have is their Facebook page. It's not just the phone number. It's that their Facebook page also shows photos of their past work and/or has a bullet list of tasks they specialize in. For this purpose, there's no need for them to be computer savvy enough to install Apache or NGINX web server, or pay for website builders like Wix / Squarespace, or hiring a website designer, etc. It's the business owner using the skills they already know (aka they know how to use Facebook) to update their web presence. Somehow, my random observation that some owners that paid for a real custom website at one point in their life had it show an old phone number that was out-of-date and yet their Facebook page had the updated phone number -- derailed the discussion. It was just a datapoint on how small business people find Facebook useful enough to maintain accurate info but their "real website" was so complicated that they abandoned it to digital rot.
  - JohnFen 2y ago
    I didn't bring the phone up because of your comment, I brought it up because what I'm saying is that if a business' only public presence is Facebook, that means the business effectively doesn't exist for me. > It's that their Facebook page also shows photos of their past work and/or has a bullet list of tasks they specialize in. Yeah, that's not what I was talking about, really. If I can't see those photos without Facebook, then I'm just not looking at those photos. I'll rely entirely on word of mouth at that point, because I have no other information to go on. If that costs the business a sale, well, that's just the way the cookie crumbles. One thing I'm certainly not going to do is support Facebook in any way, including using their services. There are plenty of other businesses (the majority of them, in my experience) that don't use it exclusively for customer relations.

by jasode 2y ago

JohnFen 2y ago

> I encounter it often because I deal with small contractors for home services and repairs and Facebook is how they reach new customers. I deal more with small businesses than large myself, but I've never been unable to find their phone number. However, as I said, if Facebook really is the only way to talk to these people, then these people clearly don't want my business anyway. Their loss, not mine.

jasode 2y ago
> but I've never been unable to find their phone number. However, as I said, if Facebook really is the only way to talk to these people, Sorry for the misunderstanding. I'm not communicating with home repair contractors exclusively via Facebook Messaging. I'm talking about browsing potential contractors to hire and the only so-called "website" they happen to have is their Facebook page. It's not just the phone number. It's that their Facebook page also shows photos of their past work and/or has a bullet list of tasks they specialize in. For this purpose, there's no need for them to be computer savvy enough to install Apache or NGINX web server, or pay for website builders like Wix / Squarespace, or hiring a website designer, etc. It's the business owner using the skills they already know (aka they know how to use Facebook) to update their web presence. Somehow, my random observation that some owners that paid for a real custom website at one point in their life had it show an old phone number that was out-of-date and yet their Facebook page had the updated phone number -- derailed the discussion. It was just a datapoint on how small business people find Facebook useful enough to maintain accurate info but their "real website" was so complicated that they abandoned it to digital rot.
- JohnFen 2y ago
  I didn't bring the phone up because of your comment, I brought it up because what I'm saying is that if a business' only public presence is Facebook, that means the business effectively doesn't exist for me. > It's that their Facebook page also shows photos of their past work and/or has a bullet list of tasks they specialize in. Yeah, that's not what I was talking about, really. If I can't see those photos without Facebook, then I'm just not looking at those photos. I'll rely entirely on word of mouth at that point, because I have no other information to go on. If that costs the business a sale, well, that's just the way the cookie crumbles. One thing I'm certainly not going to do is support Facebook in any way, including using their services. There are plenty of other businesses (the majority of them, in my experience) that don't use it exclusively for customer relations.