Here's the only known way to fight those persistent, deceptive 'Community' pages that populate Facebook with kudzu-like ferocity. If you've tried to locate a brand or org page, and all you come up with is a ghost-like apparition of the real thing ...with a white suitcase for a profile pic ...
you've stumbled upon a Community page. Facebook feels compelled to create these when we say we 'Like' something in our profile that doesn't connect with a real page, even if a real page exists for it (thank Facebook's horrible search for that). These are also created when you fill out your work history in your profile, and when typing in the name of a company/org you've worked for, and again, a 'real' page isn't immediately apparent, according to Facebook, you're either taken to a community page for the company/org ... or one is created to represent it. Here's the problem: there are tons of community pages that are duplicates of real pages ... pages that have been in existence for some time, or that have many times the number of Likes as the community page. It's a roll of the dice whether Facebook recognizes the real page or not. Can't explain why.
I came across this persistent frustration trying to update my work history the past couple of days. I simply wanted to add a new part-time gig I have, news anchoring with All News 99.1 WNEW (that's the exact name of the REAL Facebook page). Problem is, when I try to type in the radio station's name, exactly as it's spelled out on the station's official FBook page, it is not recognized. Granted, it's a new radio station and page, but it has 174 likes and plenty of content, compared to 9 likes and zero conent for it's duplicate community page, which Facebook instantly recognizes, and wants to force into my work history.
So .... here is the only known way to tell Facebook that a Community page is a duplicate, and hope that Zuck and crew find time between launching completely new user interfaces every few months to solve persistent problems we REALLY care about:
- Go to the annoying Community page you want assasinated, and click on 'Report Page, left sidebar
- Choose Duplicate or miscategorized Page from the pop up menu
- from the dropdown, choose Duplicate of another Page
- fill in the name of the REAL page ... and here's where you might have to get creative. For Facebook to recogize the page in existence ... All News 99.1 WNEW ... I had to actually type the username/vanity URL of the page in the box (http://www.facebook.com/wnewnews). Notice that from the above snapshot.
- once the real page comes up (if it does at all), choose it, then click Submit.
That's it. That's how you can 'try' to rid Facebook of any community pages floating around out there that are at best an annoyance, and at worst a mirage that attract real Fans from your Real Page. If one exists, find it, tell facebook it's a duplicate ... lather, rinse, repeat. I'm not sure how long this process takes. Admins, I might go so far as to tell several people to do the same, hoping that the more that do this, the better shot you have of Facebook taking action. Announcing it on your Page Wall is up to you, and not out of bounds IMHO. Enlising Fans to help you make your Page the best it can be ... making sausage in the open ... can be a good team building and engagement enhancing opportunity. So please, for the sake of all of us who HATE these confounded community pages, hunt them down, report them, and hope that Facebook kills them dead.
P.S
Here's Facebook's official explanation of why Community pages exist. Note the 'there are many benefits' part. Laughable.
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