Facebook competitions

alex_bro

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It seems that I can only enter the latest competition to win the TV of the year if I have a Facebook account.

I do not need or want a Facebook account, but i do want to be able to enter the on-line competitions for the magazine that I pay money to subscribe to.

Rather prejudice isn't it? Am I missing something?
 

The_Lhc

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Yes you're missing the point that this is the ONLY competition up until now that has required a Facebook account to enter, so one out of dog-knows how many is not that bad a ratio.

You and a handful of other people don't want to use Facebook, fine but there are 800 MILLION active Facebook users, that's too big a potential market for the magazine to ignore, so stupid threats to leave, such as those seen in the comments following the competition announcement are pointless at best.

You don't even seem to understand that you can set up a Facebook account, enter the competition and leave it at that. You don't have to use it for anything else, you don't have to be friends with anyone, you don't have to "like" anything else, you can just ignore it from that point on. People seem to think that once you sign up you're signing your life away, it's nonsense, you use it as much or as little as you want to.

So, to everyone else that has a problem with this competition, get over it, it's not a big deal.

EDIT: and before anybody says anything, that WAS the polite version!
 

alex_bro

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No I'm not missing the point. I'm well aware of the number of active users on Facebook and how much of a marketing opportunity it is for a magazine. Any brand should consider it's social media presence.

Also, please do credit me with at least a little bit of intelligence. I am fully aware that I can register on Facebook, do whatever I need to do and then de-register or leave the account innactive. However I do not want to do that. I do not want to give facebook any of my details or email addresses.

I do not see why the competition cannot be run in parrallel both on Facebook (and any other social media trend of the times Google+ anyone!?) AND on the What HiFi site, which is where I would rather spend my time.

I think if anyone needs to 'get over it' it is YOU for not respecting the fact that people have a choice and I choose not to want to be part of the Facebook collective. What I do choose to do is subscribe, and pay money to What Hifi and therefore I should be able to enter THEIR competitions without submitting any of my details to a third party.

Yes, this was also the 'polite' version.;)
 

chebby

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alex_bro said:
What I do choose to do is subscribe, and pay money to What Hifi and therefore I should be able to enter THEIR competitions without submitting any of my details to a third party.

Too late...

"5. Will Haymarket share my information with anyone else?

Haymarket may disclose your personal data where it believes it is compelled to do so by law; in particular for the prevention or detection of crime, the capture or prosecution of offenders; and the assessment or collection of tax or duty.

Occasionally, we may share your contact information with carefully selected third party companies whose products and services we feel may be of interest to you. We will keep these offers relevant to your interests. It's easy to unsubscribe from any email or mobile messages you no longer want. (see below).

We use a number of third party organisations to help provide a professional service to our customers (i.e. fulfilment bureaus, call centres, and website designers). These organizations act as data processors and are strictly controlled in how they may/may not use your personal data. We remain responsible for the protection of your data.

Please note that some of our partners may be located outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Countries outside the EEA may not be required to protect personal information as stringently as countries inside."

(From the Privacy Policy linked at the bottom of every page.)
 

The_Lhc

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No, you HAVE missed the point, being a subscriber is NOT an open invite to enter all comepetitions, it DOESN'T give you any more privileges than anyone else, it DOESN'T give you any more "right" to enter a competition than non-subscribers. I know because I'm a subscriber as well, for most competitions all you have to do with register with this site, big whoop, I'd estimate that 90% of the competition winners do nothing more than that, they add nothing to the "value" (whatever the hell that is) of this place and they walk away with a price sometimes worth thousands of pounds. Am I annoyed by that? You bet I am, but that's the way it works, by law the magazine isn't allowed to restrict competitions to subscribers only and the manufacturers wouldn't like it either. I get that. I don't like it but I get it.

Now, take Facebook. I'm sure you're about to say "ah yes but those same people will simply click "like" so they can enter the competition and add nothing else". Yes they will but you know what? "like"s propagate. If someone signs up here they're the only person that knows about it, yeah they'll get a weekly email but a spam filter can get rid of that, they can sign up and not have any effect on the popularity of the magazine at all. That's a bad thing. But a Facebook like? Ah, that's different, you click "like" on WHFs Facebook page and you can't hide that, everyone you're friends with will see it and maybe some of them will "like" WHF as well and all their friends will see it and some of them will "like" it as well. Maybe most of them are only doing it to win a TV but maybe, just maybe a handful of those will look at the page, head over here, sign up and join the forum, start contributing and hell, maybe even start buying the magazine.

And that's a good thing. As far as I'm concerned EVERY competition should be run through Facebook, it makes far more sense.
 

Paul.

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Because no body uses Google+, and Myspace and Bebo users are all too young (advertisers like people with disposable income, and facebook can target directly).

Im curious, you wouldn't give facebook your email address etc but you are happy to with google? Interesting, as they are pretty much the same thing, entities which proffit from data gathering and ad sales.
 

Lee H

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alex_bro said:
However I do not want to do that. I do not want to give facebook any of my details or email addresses.

Out of interest, why not? It's just an email address. Set another one up if you're concerned by it. I've been on FB for some years and I've neverfelt my privacy has been invaded or abused. Remember, the mass media love a good scare story.

Any-hoo, WHFS&V are here to make money, not to provide you or me with a vehicle to win stuff. They want to expand their reach and using Facebook is currently a fantastic way of doing so.
 
A

Anonymous

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I find it quiet annoying that I can only read the Terms and Conditions AFTER I press the “like” button.

Then I am told I cannot enter the competition (not from UK).

Free advertising for What Hi-Fi. :shame:
 

Andrew Everard

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Torfinn said:
Then I am told I cannot enter the competition (not from UK).

Yes, that's standard for our competitions, for a number of reasons we have covered several times before on these forums.

Torfinn said:
Free advertising for What Hi-Fi. :shame:

If you are sufficiently aggrieved, you can always 'unlike' the magazine if you feel the need...
 

alex_bro

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Jeez, such passion just because I personally don't want a Facebook account!

I still don't understand why the competition needs to be Facebook exclusive and cannot be run through both channels?
 

Andrew Everard

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alex_bro said:
Jeez, such passion just because I personally don't want a Facebook account!

I still don't understand why the competition needs to be Facebook exclusive and cannot be run through both channels?

As mentioned many times before, most of our competitions are run on the site, and open to anyone who registers for the site to enter them.

This one was there purely to drive traffic to our Facebook presence, and no doubt we will run others in the future using other social media platforms.
 

The_Lhc

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alex_bro said:
Jeez, such passion just because I personally don't want a Facebook account!

Because it's a totally illogical viewpoint to take, it takes no time to do and you never have to use the account again.

You have been unlucky though as my noticing the replies to this thread coincided with someone in this office trying to claim that carbon dating has been disproved and evolution is nonsense, so I'm properly fired up right now!
 

chebby

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The_Lhc said:
You have been unlucky though as my noticing the replies to this thread coincided with someone in this office trying to claim that carbon dating has been disproved and evolution is nonsense...

Given that you work in Aerospace, I hope this person isn't designing anything to do with passenger safety!
 

The_Lhc

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chebby said:
The_Lhc said:
You have been unlucky though as my noticing the replies to this thread coincided with someone in this office trying to claim that carbon dating has been disproved and evolution is nonsense...

Given that you work in Aerospace, I hope this person isn't designing anything to do with passenger safety!

He does network support luckily.
 

alex_bro

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I'm not sure my view is illogical.

So, the point of the competition is to drive Facebook traffic to the site. Great, I do get that. If I was an active memeber of Facebook with many Facebook friends then they would all see that I have liked the WHF page and may perhaps also visit the page and enter and possibly then come over to the WHF site. Great stuff. Also, by liking the FB page, it also give WHF the opportunity to market those people directly if they so wish. Also great.

But I'm not a user of Facebook, so even if I register, enter the competition, then de-register, it does not meet the goals of the campaign.

And I never had any confidence in that Darwin chap anyway ;)
 

The_Lhc

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alex_bro said:
But I'm not a user of Facebook, so even if I register, enter the competition, then de-register, it does not meet the goals of the campaign.

No, but it gives you the chance of winning the TV which is what you were complaining about in the first place!
 

Lee H

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The_Lhc said:
You have been unlucky though as my noticing the replies to this thread coincided with someone in this office trying to claim that carbon dating has been disproved and evolution is nonsense...

You could point out that their personal development does seem to support that theory.
 

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