The Australian small business community is reeling from the impact of Facebook’s decision to block news on its site. The arbitrary nature of the platform’s algorithm has seen it remove the posts of 1000s of Australian businesses, effectively shutting down their accounts.

After an extremely tough 12 months, it’s a bitter pill for small businesses, which often use the site to connect with customers.

Australians respond to the Facebook ban

Following the ban, Twitter lit up with comments from users whose pages had been taken down despite having no connection to Australian news media.

Small business advocates and business owners called for action over the ban, which has seen 1000s of Australian businesses swept up in the ban.

Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman Kate Carnell urged affected business owners to get in touch.

“We are aware of some small businesses (not in the media) that have been caught up in Facebook’s news blockage. Small businesses impacted by the actions of Facebook are encouraged to get in contact with my office and we can provide assistance,” Carnell told KBB.

Meanwhile, Peter Strong CEO of the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia (whose page has also been affected by the ban) said the move was a reminder of why monopolies are bad news for business.

“Facebook is proving why the domination of any one business in a marketplace always ends badly,” Strog said.

“They believe they can control the population and the government. Let’s make sure we create the right legislation to keep these monster monopolies under control.”

Business owners have also been quick to react

Kris Grant, CEO, ASPL Group says after all the progress the organisation has made to empower women and other minority groups and give them equal opportunity, the move by Facebook feels like a big step backwards.

“While the impact isn’t immediately obvious, women and people from diverse backgrounds who have fought tooth and nail for their media careers will already be feeling the impacts of the way they communicate with others in their communities shut down overnight. While this is only a small roadblock on the path to true equality, we’re confident that the progress made so far will allow these voices to be heard on whichever platform they communicate on moving forward.”

Robert Tadros, founder and CEO of Impress!ve shared Strong’s view that the ban was a reminder not to put all your eggs in one basket.

“It is a huge reminder to business owners and entrepreneurs to diversify their marketing channels and lead generation. I’m a big supporter of omni-channel efforts and never having all your eggs in one basket, efforts should be split across a variety so you maximise your reach.

“By relying heavily on just one channel you are really limiting your brand, and you open yourself up to the possibility of being sunk if something like a platform outage happens.

“I see email marketing becoming extremely important in the immediate future, and this is a big sign for businesses to start developing strategies to build and maintain their own email or SMS lists. If all else fails and social media is no longer an option, these lists are what you can truly own and execute precisely. If your content is engaging and on point for your brand, your audience will find you.”

As an events-based business, Justine Barsley from Perth Upmarket said the ban would severely hamper upcoming business.

“We are a market event business supporting hundreds of creative small businesses. We too have been blocked by Facebook, even though we aren’t a news site. I reported it yesterday and still to no avail. We have an event in 4 weeks and my Facebook ads are going to be hindered by this. Cross fingers it gets resolved soon.”

For those who advertise on Facebook, Adam Boote Localsearch Director of Digital and Growth said the ban was not all bad.

“Businesses who advertise on Facebook should not be concerned with the possibility of decreased reach opportunities. People are using the platform to connect with friends, family and, if you’re doing it right, businesses too, so I wouldn’t expect to see many people leave the platform because of this.

Ads rely on people seeing them, so if anything, all the people going to Facebook to see who has had their content banned and who hasn’t is going to be good news if you have ads right now.

Businesses also shouldn’t put all their eggs in one basket, and be present and active on many different online platforms. Facebook, Google and other tech giants are businesses too. They can cease to exist.

Ensuring your business is on the platforms your audience are using isn’t just for reaching those people and growing their business, but it helps future-proof yourself for things like this, if they ever were to impact businesses. For example, Facebook also owns Instagram, but they haven’t expanded the ban to that platform,” Boote concluded.

Government to pull ad spend from Facebook

Meanwhile, the feud between the Australian government and Facebook shows no sign of abating with Finance Minister Simon Birmingham telling Radio National the federal government will no longer advertise on the platform.

“My expectation is that we will pull back from advertising while they undertake the type of terrible activity of pulling down sites inappropriately, seeking to exert power or influence over our Democratic systems.”

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