February 2, 2019 — A Facebook hack of select users left artists without a home. Select user accounts were targeted that were owners of Facebook Business pages. Once the accounts were compromised, the hacker would accessed the business page, insert themselves as an admin, and remove all other admins.

Few reports from bands had instances where user profiles were compromised leading to Facebook admins being removed. Some artists were lucky enough to have some members remain admins and be able to remove the hacker as an admin while others weren’t so lucky.

What to do if your Facebook account has been compromised?

Facebook has a resource which allows you to submit a request to them. If you’re worried about the security of your account. It can be found here.

What can I do to protect my account from a Facebook Hack?

Turn on two-factor authentication. This is an extra 2-step process but essentially two-factor authentication is:

“Two-factor authentication is a security feature that helps protect your Facebook account in addition to your password. If you set up two-factor authentication, you’ll be asked to enter a special login code or confirm your login attempt each time someone tries accessing Facebook from a computer or mobile device we don’t recognize. You can also get alerts when someone tries logging in from a computer we don’t recognize.” — Facebook Help Center. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/help/148233965247823

Be careful where you log in. If a friend sends you a link to something that seems a little out of the ordinary that directs you to a Facebook login page; don’t log in! Hackers use these tricks as a way to gain access to accounts.

Change your password to something stronger. Changing your password to be a mix of special characters, numbers, letters, and different casings can definitely help as well.

What’s next for Facebook and Artists/Businesses?

With Facebook’s decline among younger audiences and numerous data breaches, Facebook may eventually go by the way-side. Much like MySpace when Facebook took over, there may come a time where Facebook will be a shell of what it once was. For an example, my band The Summoned had over 28,000 fans on MySpace before Facebook turned public. But, once Facebook turned public, people started migrating to the new platform. We were only able maintain 100 or so fans, essentially starting over.

As expressed in my prior article “Social media and retailers want artists to fail“, artists and small businesses are constantly at war with Social Media and retail giants. To ensure artists and business don’t need to start over every time a new social network comes out, we need to maintain control. Below are some ideas to ensure we maintain control every time a social network comes and goes.

Create a website and depend on it:

Social networks have limitations. Displaying your events, let others hear music, or watch your videos often involves a lot of clicks. With your own website you have full control over the layout and flow of where to guide your fans. If you decide to make it even more engaging, have a forum or make it your own social network using bbPress if it’s WordPress powered.

Who you depend to use for a website provider is completely up to you and prices can vary but sites like Bandzoogle offer all the tools you’ll need in one service.

Create an email newsletter and build that mailing list:

Building a mailing list of dedicated fans is a great way to send out updates, promote your music, and sell merchandise. When you have a mailing list the standard industry open rate is typically 19%. When promoting the same kind of material on Facebook, you get a 1% reach. Hypothetically if you were to have a mailing list of 5,000 people that’s 950 people vs Facebook’s 50. The numbers speak for themselves.

Did you recently experience a Facebook hack and were removed as an admin from a page? We’d like to hear your story. Leave a comment below.