What I learned from a week of Facebook Jail

One morning, I logged into Facebook only to find myself locked out. The reason? Facebook didn’t think I was a real person, despite the thousands of genuine family photos on my profile! I followed all the prompts, yet a week later, I was still locked out.

We rarely consider the consequences of losing access to our Facebook profile. For many of us in the grooming industry, Facebook isn’t just social, it’s business. We use it to manage our pages and communicate with clients. When your profile disappears, so does your access to your business page and Messenger.

Thankfully, I had added my husband as an admin after a friend was hacked, so I could still manage my page through his account. But here’s the kicker: if your Instagram is linked to Facebook, you’ll lose that too. Luckily, mine was under a separate login, so I still had access.

Now, imagine if Facebook were your only way of attracting clients. What would you do if this happened to you—or if Meta shut down overnight?

I’m fortunate to have a website that drives most of my business, but it was still frustrating not being able to respond to Facebook enquiries. Thankfully, all my client data is stored in Groomore, a cloud-based system, so I could still communicate with existing clients. Can you say the same?

Key Lessons Learned

• Add a backup admin to your page- whether it’s a family member or an alternative profile, so you can regain access if locked out.
• Don’t rely on social media for client details. Keep appointment information in a secure system, not just on Facebook.
• Save your friends’ phone numbers. Many of mine were worried when I vanished from Messenger.
• Update your logins. If you use Facebook to sign into apps or websites, add an alternative email address.
• Back up your photos. I do, but many people don’t.
• Avoid launching major projects like a cat-grooming course while locked out of Facebook! (Like me haha!!)

How I Got Back In

I contacted the Small Business Ombudsman since this affected my business. Meta was impossible to reach directly, but the Ombudsman managed to get through. It turned out to be a glitch; I should have regained access on day one!

I hope sharing this experience helps someone else avoid income loss or communication breakdown if this ever happens to you.

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