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> 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 misunde

by 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some owners that paid for a real custom website at one point in their life had it show an old phone number that was out-of-date and yet their Facebook page had the updated phone number -- derailed the discussion.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 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.