Facebook - Tagging Someone When They Aren't Really There?

An apartment community that I'm a fan of recently tagged me in a photo. The photo was actually a one page newsletter where I wasn't actually shown in the picture. I've seen this plenty of times before, where someone uses the tagging feature not to show who was in the picture, but rather to promote the picture to those who were tagged. What do you all think of this practice?

(I don't want to just hear what Facebook's policy is - I want to hear what you think of actually doing this, such as whether you think it is effective, how annoying it might be, etc.)

I think it is in poor taste.

I've not heard of this happening before reading your post, but I wouldn't like...it's like when you come out of the grocery store and you have those flyers stuck in your windshield wipes...tacky...Just my 2 cents...

It annoys me.

It depends, if it is something I am really interested in I would be happy, if it was equivelent to spam..no so much

which makes it difficult and a reason to not do it. If you are a page owner and want to tag people, first ask permission by selecting the fan and sending a direct message. Yes, your identity is known, but if you have that type of relationship, they probably are aware that you are managing the page anyway.

I saw this just today and thought... This is annoying.

I understand why they do it but I think they are risking losing friends or "likes" which defeats their original reason for tagging people.

I think that people should ASK before they do so. You then have the right to say no. (And don't be afraid to say it too) Obviously with Facebook you can untag yourself but I think tagging without asking is a big faux pas.

Great responses everybody! I really like Boonee's comment about whether it is interesting - My guess is that people would be more forgiving if you provided excellent (and relevant) content. Of course, that's a big risk, and also it means that you can identify all your different market segments when sending out to make sure you are hitting the right target.

I don't know if I agree with the asking for permission - I think this is something you either do or don't do. First of all, I don't know of a non-awkward way of asking if I could tag a person in a newsletter post. Second, that would mean keeping some sort of log of people who say "no". In the end, I think it probably just makes more sense to use different tools for this, such as a fan page update. Why risk it?

sorry...disagree with your point Brent about not asking for permission. we need to be reminded about customer service and creating a permission based society. that's what drove social media to begin with (in the manner that it has evolved). I know Im done with pushed messages forced on me. If you have the galls to link me to something, than you have the galls (or the right relationship) to send me a message and state I hope you dont mind that I tag you on this, blah blah blah...

thanks,
carmen

I agree with Carmen about permission-based messaging. If someone sends you an email when you didn't sign up for their list, it's spam. This? It's spam, too.

You don't get to decide whether you have excellent, relevant content ... that's up to your audience, and they have to tell you that they want to hear from you first. If they like your Page, or if enough of their friends are commenting on your photo, there's a good chance that they're going to see your content in their newsfeed. Also, Facebook is starting to push photos a lot more in the sidebars, so you have a better chance than ever to get people to see your pictures.

I have always thought that this was a sneaky attempt to reach my Facebook friends. I would like to direct what is on my wall so when this happens I consider it spam and typically remove it unless it is something I endorse and want to share with my FB friends. There have been times when "unfriend" the person or company who did this.

This is the reality of a world where Facebook exists Before, if you went out in public and happened to be photographed or filmed in the street, that was just life. Now our presence can be detected by our friends' photos, being tagged to a newsletter, and so on.

There are a few choices.

I read recently of young people completely deactivating their page when they were offline. That way, no one could tag them, until they came online again, at which time they can swiftly untag if they desire.

Untagging the next time you are online.

Accepting it.

Tagging someone is a quick way of making sure they are aware of something. Just recently I posted something in my FB status, and I particularly wanted to share it with a couple of friends, and I tagged them in my status. I have to admit, I am usually fairly conservative with this sort of thing ... my FB profile is completely private, and I have sorted my "friends" into groups. But even I didn't think twice about tagging them in my status, and whether they would be upset about it. Maybe I should have been? *shrug* It wasn't offensive .. in fact, the friends I tagged are vocalists, and the status was showing a well known choir doing a flash mob of the Hallelujah chorus ... can't get much more boring for most people, but we liked it.

I guess if we don't want this sort of public identification by other people, then we don't do FB. Or we go private.

This is truly an interesting topic, and it reminds me of the creativity of a promoter. While this type of attempt to promote can be annoying to the audience, it is also a good enough tactic as internet pup-ups and/or flyer distribution. Many people get annoyed and simply discard or close the advertisement, but there is always someone that it will catch is eye and further explore the advertisement. So, do I think is tacky and annoying, YES, but is it affective, also YES. Sorry.