Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

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Archive 2009 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

CRFTony
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p.1 #1 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

I use Facebook primarily for marketing purposes for high school seniors. I do Facebook ads, have a page, etc. It was GREAT for my senior business this year.

Over the weekend, I found that another photographer in my town is watching my page and is sending add requests to everyone who is my "friend". I suspected this was happening for quite a while, but got confirmation this weekend. I noticed that he added a friend of mine in the Royal Air Force (as in England) who has never been within 500 miles of our town. When I saw this, I decided to set up a "sting" (it was a boring weekend, what can I say?) and I added my cousin who lives in Oregon (I'm in PA). I told my cousin to let me know if this other photographer sent him an add. Less than a day later, the photographer had sent my cousin an friend request.

I know there's nothing illegal about this. It just really irks me that a supposed professional photographer would be raiding my friends list and trying to siphon off business. It would be like me going to his studio and standing on the sidewalk, then handing out business cards to everyone who is going to his studio.

I basically just wanted to vent and figured other pros here would get a kick out of hearing the story, but if anyone has advice feel free to share.

Nov 16, 2009 at 05:54 PM

j.curtis
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p.1 #2 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

Get over it. It's Facebook.

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:01 PM

Steady Hand
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p.1 #3 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

Hey Tony...

I found your situation interesting to read about. I don't have a Facebook account, and so don't know the "ins and outs" of how it works.

But, it does sound like something peculiar to me. I suppose that anonymity afforded by the internet allows stuff like that...and the fact that so much personal info is available too, including pics etc.

Thanks for posting your account of it, I can't help you with the issue, but it was informative and interesting to read your situation.

Good luck.

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:11 PM

DLGPhotog
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p.1 #4 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

don't have much advice...although that is rather low of the other 'tog. If you wanted to sink closer to his/her level you could post a status update along the lines of "CRFTony is irritated that a competitor is trying to steal his facebook friends". Not exactly the high road but will tip off your clients about what's happening.

Do you know if they actually accepted the friend request? If I don't know the person I don't accept it so they may have ignored his request.

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:12 PM

Pfiltz
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p.1 #5 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

Business is Business.

If your work is good enough. They will come.

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:13 PM

CRFTony
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p.1 #6 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

Oh, I'm not too worried about losing much business to him aside from the occasional price shopper. I photographed more seniors this year than the past 2 years combined, so it's not about being scared, I'm more just annoyed to see how this guy clearly has no ethics.

DLGPhotog: I've found most people on facebook, especially high school seniors, just add anyone who sends a request. I just checked and this photographer and I currently have "892 mutual friends".

Edited on Nov 16, 2009 at 06:22 PM · View previous versions

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:21 PM

4honor
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p.1 #7 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

You can probably make your friend list private and defriend him if you are his "friend"...

But yeah, there are a couple photographers that do that with my friend list too. Everytime i upload the photos I will tag my models if they are on facebook. You know, if the model is good looking, he will add her in hopes that he can work with her too.

Nothing you can do really, after all, facebook is for networking... :\

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:22 PM

kakomu
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p.1 #8 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

4honor wrote:
Nothing you can do really, after all, facebook is for networking... :\

Indeed.

To the OP, my advice is to just get over it.

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:25 PM

benj
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p.1 #9 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

I'd say just start adding his friends and see how he likes it.

Or you could go outside his shop and hand out business cards to people coming in and out of his shop.

Benj

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:32 PM

benj
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p.1 #10 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

But really, you should send him a message and say that you noticed that he's doing that, and you'd appreciate if he would respect your personal space (i.e. your friends list) a little more. See what he has to say for himself.

Benj

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:33 PM

kakomu
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p.1 #11 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

benj wrote:
I'd say just start adding his friends and see how he likes it.

Or you could go outside his shop and hand out business cards to people coming in and out of his shop.

Benj

The big difference is that soliciting in front of a store front can be considered illegal (depending on loitering an soliciting laws). Whereas, social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, et al.) are designed to be open, allowing people to befriend whoever they want.

benj wrote:
But really, you should send him a message and say that you noticed that he's doing that, and you'd appreciate if he would respect your personal space (i.e. your friends list) a little more. See what he has to say for himself.

Benj

Facebook isn't "personal space".

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:34 PM

CRFTony
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p.1 #12 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

As I said, I know there isn't anything legally wrong. I think any reputable photographer would admit that it's a really, really sleazy way of trying to get clients though.

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:40 PM

Pfiltz
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p.1 #13 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

benj wrote:
respect your personal space
Benj

Not sure he's paying for that "personal space" or "owns" it, per sey....

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:42 PM

tonygerads
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p.1 #14 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

I agree with the idea of sending him a message telling him that you noticed what he's doing, and though it may not be illegal, It's kind of dirty. togs should work together in this expanding world of "uncle bob's". Let him know that it would have been much better if he would have contacted you and y'all could referred one another if there weren't openings in your schedule... Instead he took the dirty route and burned his bridges...

Best of luck..

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:45 PM

mlandauer
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p.1 #15 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

The playing dirty move:

You should add a few new friends who will help you, then ask them to "ignore" the request from the other photog and report the solicitation as "SPAM".

Not sure how many it would take, but I'm pretty sure the guys account would be dropped if he got enough reports.

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:50 PM

benj
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p.1 #16 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

@ Kakomu - I was mostly joking about passing out cards. I was reveling in the statement it would make to the offending photographer. My ultimate suggestion would be to confront the person and find out what they have to say for themselves. Perhaps CRFTony can express the frustration with what happened. If the guy is a nice guy, he'll probably apologize and stop. If he's a jerk face who doesn't know how to get his own business on his own merits, then at least CRFTony will know who he's dealing with.

And just because you don't consider FB to be personal space, doesn't mean that it isn't. Personal space is what you think it is, and the best indicator to let you know if something is personal space is to see how the holder of that space reacts to someone messing with it. The mere fact that CRFTony was offended by the "Stealing" of friends/contacts indicates that his personal space was violated. Whether the violator actually did anything wrong or not is debatable, and I'm sure there is no one right answer.

What it comes down to is whether CRFTony is bugged enough by this that he's willing to do something about it. If it were me, I'd definitely make my friend list more private so they didn't show up for other people to peruse. Making the "friends list" a lot more private would definitely send a clear message that his friends list is in fact his personal space meant only for his friends and contacts.

Benj

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:52 PM

CRFTony
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p.1 #17 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

I want to thank everyone for their advice. I didn't realize I could make my friends list private, so I went ahead and did that. That should take care of most of the problem. I'm not concerned enough with it to confront him.

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:55 PM

Ole Martin
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p.1 #18 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

mlandauer wrote:
The playing dirty move:

You should add a few new friends who will help you, then ask them to "ignore" the request from the other photog and report the solicitation as "SPAM".

Not sure how many it would take, but I'm pretty sure the guys account would be dropped if he got enough reports.

Altneratively, you could report his images if he has any with bikini, underwear etc.. Facebook easily blocks your account for that sometimes.. Happened to a few friends of mine.

Nov 16, 2009 at 06:55 PM

kakomu
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p.1 #19 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

benj wrote:
@ Kakomu - I was mostly joking about passing out cards. I was reveling in the statement it would make to the offending photographer. My ultimate suggestion would be to confront the person and find out what they have to say for themselves. Perhaps CRFTony can express the frustration with what happened. If the guy is a nice guy, he'll probably apologize and stop. If he's a jerk face who doesn't know how to get his own business on his own merits, then at least CRFTony will know who he's dealing with.

And what if the photographer wishes to solicit people for other purposes? TFP or maybe paying models for his own portfolio? In which case, the whole situation seems more about a photographer being territorial then about lost business. Moreover, unless the OP knew all the people he photographed through Facebook prior to photographing them, I doubt his methods of acquiring contacts through Facebook could be considered entirely legitimate. This is based on OP's first sentence where he states that he used Facebook to advertise his business. Why it's OK for OP to advertise and solicit through Facebook, but not OK for others to do the same seems more like hypocrisy and the fear of competition than about any legitimate fear.

benj wrote:
And just because you don't consider FB to be personal space, doesn't mean that it isn't. Personal space is what you think it is, and the best indicator to let you know if something is personal space is to see how the holder of that space reacts to someone messing with it. The mere fact that CRFTony was offended by the "Stealing" of friends/contacts indicates that his personal space was violated. Whether the violator actually did anything wrong or not is debatable, and I'm sure there is no one right answer.

Facebook is the farthest thing from "private". If OP wanted a private customer list, he wouldn't have advertised it through a service like Facebook. OP may have felt some sort of violation, but I would liken it more to someone wearing revealing clothing and then getting mad when people stare at their goods. This isn't industrial espionage.

benj wrote:What it comes down to is whether CRFTony is bugged enough by this that he's willing to do something about it. If it were me, I'd definitely make my friend list more private so they didn't show up for other people to peruse. Making the "friends list" a lot more private would definitely send a clear message that his friends list is in fact his personal space meant only for his friends and contacts.

Benj

If it were me, I wouldn't advertise my customer list on Facebook. Easy solution to a non-problem.

Unless the other guy is saying things about you, or actively trying to steal clientele, I wouldn't worry about it. A little healthy competition never hurt anyone except those that couldn't hack it.

Nov 16, 2009 at 07:01 PM

benj
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p.1 #20 · Another photographer is raiding my Facebook friends list

@ Kakomu - exactly...it's about being territorial. That's what personal space is all about. I've been talking about personal space...not private property. You seem to be confusing the two. One is physical and can be defended legally. The other is personal and emotional.

I'm curious as to why you are defending this photographer's actions. Is it because you've done the same thing he did? I believe that there is a line that he crossed that indicates that he's either lacking in respect of other people's personal space, or he's lacking the understanding of business tact, etc.

Nov 16, 2009 at 07:10 PM

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