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March 29, 2011 in Business
KPBX’s Facebook page briefly linked to adult website
Spokane Public Radio station KPBX last week discovered that its Facebook page had attracted the wrong kind of friend.
In the middle of its spring pledge drive, station staff on Friday spent several hours scrambling to remove a Facebook link to a sexually explicit website using the name “Spokane public radio.”
The link to the porn site included a thumbnail-size image of a couple engaged in sexual activity. That link and photo appeared as the second result if someone searched on Facebook for “Spokane Public Radio.”
KPBX board Chairman J. Scott Miller may have been one of the first to see the offending material, around 9 a.m. on Friday. Unable to find a customer service number for Facebook, Miller called station managers and asked them to remove the link, which apparently went to a New Zealand site.
Shelley Sharpe, KBPX marketing and public relations coordinator, said the station fielded no complaints from listeners or Facebook visitors about the problem.
By Friday afternoon KBPX staff had filed reports using a built-in complaint form on Facebook. The offending material disappeared Saturday morning, apparently the result of those complaints.
Sharpe said she heard of no other public radio stations facing the same problem.
Like many nonprofits and for-profit companies, KPBX uses Facebook as a tool to reach fans and listeners and offer a forum for feedback. Setting up a Facebook group page costs nothing.
Facebook typically blocks any attempt to create a link with X-rated content.
But Sharpe thinks there are some groups who are piggy-backing their way onto Facebook using existing accounts.
“We think they were able to call themselves that name by using lower-case letters,” Sharpe said. “My guess is that using that slight change in spelling, they were able to use someone else’s name.”
Sharpe can’t imagine why the porn site went to that effort; “maybe they’re trying to access our Facebook fans,” she said.
Calls to Facebook for clarification or an explanation of policies went unanswered.
“They do not contact you,” Sharpe said. “They don’t tell you who it was. They just take it down.”
Neesha Schrom, the station’s development assistant, was given the task of filling out the problem reports and sending them to Facebook. She said the reaction time by Facebook was quick enough, considering “the large number of reports they must be getting about problems” from users.
Her advice for anyone facing a similar problem: “Act fast. Facebook will help you, but you have to contact them. It won’t get fixed on its own.”
The incident doesn’t change the way the station will use Facebook, Sharpe said.
“You have to use Facebook today. It’s almost a must now if you’re a nonprofit or a business and want to network with people and have them interact with you.”
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hawken on March 29 at 7:56 a.m.
How ironic. Last week when liberals were defending the libraries access to porn sites, I sarcastically suggested that public broadcasting ad a porn program in place of public libraries, after we quit funding them with tax dollars. Looks like they actually did.
Diana on March 29 at 8:24 a.m.
Looks like they actually didn’t.
No, it looks like hawken doesn’t know what he’s bleating about (again).
You do realize that some jokester/hackster put the porn link on the Facebook page, right? No? Maybe you should resist commenting on the many things you don’t understand.
eagleproducer on March 30 at 9:35 a.m.
Get him, Diana!
Hawken rarely lets facts stand between him and an opportunity to slaver with Pavlovian predictability about the evils in our culture like Public Radio.