Business Marketing

I accidentally deleted my Facebook Account

Published

12 years ago

March 9, 2009

Dumb – dumb – dumb

I keep telling myself that things happen for a reason and although I feel like I have a knot in my stomach for making an idiotic mistake…..it HAS brought a light to what Social Media represents in our business.

Yesterday I created a Facebook profile for Rick to be able to not only tag the hundreds of photos of him, but also his Miamism Mojitos. 30 minutes after creating the profile, Rick called me complaining (maybe it was whining) that he had already received 30 emails from Facebook and he was really annoyed. (there’s a reason why I do social media and he doesn’t). So as to relieve his e-mail inbox, I decided to change the address to mine and there’s where the mistake was made. Facebook only allows one account per email address and deleted my account. OUCH!!! (I wish they would have given my account a warning, considering I had it for years…but oh well).

So here I am….angry, upset, frustrated and helpless. All my contacts from Europe the US and South America are gone! all my photos and videos, gone! I’m not even part of the conversations within groups and pages! According to facebook, I never even existed and there is no evidence of my being.

DEEP BREATH

I go on twitter to ask for help and so many people jump in to try to help….but nothing…..I have to wait to see if Facebook can restore my account.

So I’m having a conversation with Jeff this morning and he has to bring reason into my rational but irritated mind (why does he always do that?) and he asks: “Is it worth it to re-build your facebook account?” and although the answer is yes, it still pisses me off.

Here’s the bigger picture

A lot of us use social media for business and have come to depend on certain facets from many of these platforms (not just facebook) – what happens if social media disappears? what happens if that medium you have come to depend on for business is gone tomorrow? Do you have a second plan?

It all comes to the question of putting all your eggs in one basket – whether it is your blog, your twitter profile, a facebook page or your flickr account. Do you realize that any of these can vanish without warning?

Most of these platforms are free and they owe absolutely nothing to their users – why would they even have backups or keep archives?

I need to piggy back off of Mark Eckenrode’s post today, Social Media Missing the Mark?

It’s not just about understanding social media, and about it supplementing your marketing strategy, it’s also knowing what to do with a certain portion of that strategy if it didn’t exist and you had to make extreme changes because certain factors were out of your control.

Now….can someone at FACEBOOK please please help me!

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Is Social Media Missing the Mark?

Ines Hegedus-Garcia

Ines is all Miami, all the time. A Miami Beach Realtor® with Majestic properties, Ines authors Miamism.com, PrimeMiamiBeach.com, and MiamismPix.com and is always on communication's leading edge. She goes out of her way to engage and be engaged, often using Mojitos to keep the mood light and give everything she does a Miami flavor. You can find her goofing off or instigating trouble at Twitter, Flickr, Facebook or LinkedIn.

56 Comments

Clint Miller

March 9, 2009 at 11:37 am

Oh, Ines!! I am so sorry to hear that this happened. And, I will definitly remember this if I ever build another profile to NOT change it to my email. How frustrating!

Aside from a shoulder to lean on, I wont be much help, unfortunately. I know enough to break them…not how to get them back aside from crying in the corner…lol.

Reply
The Dude Dean

March 9, 2009 at 11:47 am

OUCH! Hope you get it back so we can all throw some sheep at you. 😉

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Jay McGillicuddy

March 9, 2009 at 11:50 am

Depressing for sure Ines. I am so glad I didn’t have to help Monika build her Facebook profile and have her email come to me like we do on some sites.

I just hope Facebook can help. A little bit above my expertise. Best of Luck…

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Jeff Turner

March 9, 2009 at 11:52 am

So, the other question I asked on the phone this morning was this, “If all of the social media sites went away tomorrow, what would you be doing to grow your business?” I know you know that answer. And as a further dovetail to Mark’s post, whatever your answer is to that question… you should already be doing that right now – in addition to your social media efforts.

Let’s hope Facebook hops on this and reinstates your account, complete with all those Mojito photos. 🙂

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Mike Mueller

March 9, 2009 at 11:57 am

Ines –
Maybe I can give you a coupe of resources I know of at Facebook and maybe they can direct you to the right person.

Start with
Christina Holsberry, Manager of the User Experience team, https://www.facebook.com/s.php?k=100000080&id=202135&sid=85606833f54a7bf5733a4b8c6295abe9

Or Kathy Chan: https://www.facebook.com/s.php?k=100000080&id=19800843&sid=38b21bef95c3a85de12562ec1f7977e1

And of course there’s always Mark Zuckerberg: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=4

Outside of facebook you could try either Shama Hyder https://twitter.com/Shama
or Mari Smith https://twitter.com/MariSmith

Both know FB inside and out!

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Ines Hegedus-Garcia

March 9, 2009 at 12:07 pm

Clint – a shoulder and mojitos, what else could I ask for?

Jay – you totally get it, it was about poor management on my side

Jeff – how did I know you would come back with the rest of that conversation – will you please stop instigating? no, really…..it makes you think of what alternate things you SHOULD be doing and weighing in how these platforms don’t owe anything to us and can take our accounts away without warning.

There is intangible value that cannot be replaced.

Mike – thank you, thank you! I’m on it!

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Ines Hegedus-Garcia

March 9, 2009 at 12:08 pm

I’m thinking in Spanish again today, my English is horrible and I apologize in advance.

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Matthew Hardy

March 9, 2009 at 1:08 pm

> All my contacts from Europe the US and South America are gone!

This is a very good lesson for all, Mojito Maven!

Now do this: collect ALL your contacts into one place onto a hard drive you control – you can then export this data as necessary for import into web-based systems. Never add something you consider business-important to a public, vendor-controlled system without also adding the information to your own private system. Then, backup often.

Businesspeople know that their data *IS* their business and care for it appropriately. Many are learning that the real silver lining to the “cloud” is for the benefit of the vendor, first and foremost.

The fantastic promise (and reality) of the internet is that you can have your own private system and access it from anywhere. Adding and meticulously caring for a dataset that represents past and future earnings creates real value for your business – a business you can sell someday if you want. Compare this to having your business strewn about a myriad of “social” and “cloud” websites and you’ll find that your “independent” business simply has a new master.

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Ines Hegedus-Garcia

March 9, 2009 at 1:29 pm

Matthew – fantastic point! It’s all about data, no? some of us take for granted that these platforms may be more for fun than business and think that the data is safe in someone else’s hands

In my case – my contacts from childhood are valuable and now will have to fish for them one by one

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Matthew Hardy

March 9, 2009 at 2:08 pm

Ines, you seem like such a fantastically nice person and I am really sorry that you’re having to deal with this.

I’d like to offer you a copy of our database software at no charge. I am not asking you to write about it nor do I wish to create even a hint of obligation. You’ll get class-A support et al, including updates. If it helps you, it will make me feel good. (I like to feel good.) But whatever you do from now on woman (!), keep a frickin’ backup! 😉

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Ines Hegedus-Garcia

March 9, 2009 at 2:35 pm

You are too cool Matthew – are you sure that would not be considered an evil bribe? LOL!

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Lisa Sanderson

March 9, 2009 at 2:37 pm

Ouch. Sorry for your loss, Ines. I wish I could help you with your problem, but if there is anything else you need, don’t hesitate to ask. This really is something to think about…diversifying, backing up the data, protecting your assets. Thanks for sharing your pain for the good of the rest of us.

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Matthew Hardy

March 9, 2009 at 2:42 pm

> @Lisa – protecting your assets

Decades ago I opined that “digital” would become the new “real”. Business data is absolutely real property.

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Matthew Hardy

March 9, 2009 at 3:16 pm

> evil bribe? LOL!

That is funny!

(Of course, what’s not so funny are some of the SM talking heads who consider every kind act as suspect. You know, like those rotten real estate agents who offer things like market analysis for free! You just can’t trust anyone these days…)

😉

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Ines Hegedus-Garcia

March 9, 2009 at 3:23 pm

you crack me up Matthew!!

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Jonathan Phan

March 9, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Sorry for your loss.

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Missy Caulk

March 9, 2009 at 6:09 pm

I’m sorry Ines, I know how you are feeling seriously. I lost all my data on my PC when the genius’s at Apple deleted it from my Sony when they were suppose to be transferring.

I still grieve it when I am looking up past client information.

Can you back up FB? I had no idea.

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Ken Montville - The MD Suburbs of DC

March 9, 2009 at 7:29 pm

Considering the brouhaha over FB keeping all your data forever during the last terms of service kerfuffle I would think that FB has your account in some hidden vault and could restore it with just a slap on the wrist.

I like Mike’s recommendations.

Good luck.

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Ken Brand

March 9, 2009 at 7:32 pm

Yeah, I believe this fall into the category of hard to imagine the loss until you’ve lost it. Seriously, on way FB could monetize would be to off some very inexpensive backup subscription service. Of course they’d have to deal with a firestorm from the entitlement element. I’d pay a small fee for peace of mind.

Rock on.

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Mariana

March 9, 2009 at 7:43 pm

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Mariana

March 9, 2009 at 7:44 pm

poke

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Elaine Reese

March 9, 2009 at 8:21 pm

Good golly, how absolutely awful! I would think they would be able to restore it given their recent PR fiasco.

I moved away from AR because I think it’s vulnerable. Now all my ‘good stuff’ is on WP.com. I know that they say everything is backed up on their servers, but is there a way I can back up WP.com on my own equipment?

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Ines Hegedus-Garcia

March 9, 2009 at 9:21 pm

Jonathan – it’s kind of like a missing child that you don’t know is gone yet (horrible analogy) – but not accepting condolences yet 😉

OMG Missy – don’t even go there – that’s terrifying! Especially because so many told me to take my PC to Apple to transfer the data – it’s still sitting next to me imac as a “library” of sorts.

Ken M.- ya think? but it all goes to show that we need to look into each and every one of these accounts and know what role they play and act accordingly

Ken – would be easy to monetize it – but they would seriously have to offer support and have a good backup which they may not be willing to do at this point

Mariana – cruel…..just cruel (rock)

Elaine – there is a way to back up your stuff into your own servers – no doubt about it

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Dan Connolly

March 9, 2009 at 11:56 pm

I just signed up for Carbonite about three days ago. I feel so much better knowing that all my data backs up every time my computer goes idle for a minute or two. It’s pretty reasonable ($50/year and you can find discount coupons off that price, online). I suppose Carbonite could go down also…but I like having a backup away from my office in case of fire, flood or really thorough robbers. (God forbid).

Can’t help you with Facebook, it seems bizarre that you could lose everything with the click of a mouse!

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Ines Hegedus-Garcia

March 10, 2009 at 10:00 am

Thanks Dan – there are so many systems out there for backing up – I guess FB is one of those that we don’t weigh in and it’s not so much about the contacts, it’s about its use being gone.

I actually contacted a few of my FB contacts to continue some of the conversations we were having and it wasn’t the same – the question comes up again….how important are these to you, and what happens if they are gone tomorrow.

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teresa boardman

March 11, 2009 at 4:49 am

I don’t have all of my eggs in one basket but it would hurt my business if some of my social media accounts were deleted. I have backed up my contacts on a couple of the networks because I wouldn’t want to lose touch with my contacts. If my facebook count were deleted I would smile.

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Linda Davis

March 14, 2009 at 12:49 pm

I would try to remain positive. Just think of all the sheep you saved.

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ines

March 14, 2009 at 3:40 pm

T – I’m not smiling….quite the contrary….pouting

Linda – LOL or the poked out eyes

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Ines Hegedus-Garcia

March 17, 2009 at 9:31 am

UPDATE : It’s been over a week and still have not heard from Facebook about my account – seems incredible that they would not have any type of customer service.

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jackie

March 18, 2009 at 2:08 pm

today..it happened to me I signed up to make a business page & somewhere in that setup I thought it asked for my personal name..well I gave it & my e-mail & bang, my account was now taken over & my old personal one is gone..& now i’m locked out of the business one that I signed up my visa for advertising..& I can’t get in to do anything..& no response to emails either..very frustrating..& they have my visa 🙁

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ines

March 18, 2009 at 4:38 pm

jackie – you may have better luck, since it was a business account and there was $ involved. I’m beyond the hope stage and just pissed off now – not a single response is just not acceptable.

OK – it’s a free service, but there is priceless value in the word of mouth and indirect marketing we give Facebook.

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Susan Milner

March 18, 2009 at 6:36 pm

I was wondering why I got another friend’s request from you. Now be careful to not add friends too quickly or you’ll get kicked off or suspended for being spammy.

I think about this all of the time. Heck, what if we all woke up tomorrow and GOOGLE was gone? I think we’d all die 🙂

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Bob Carney

March 18, 2009 at 6:43 pm

wow…a whole week. Does facebook understand that the Mojito movement is going to surpass the FB movement? I would think they would want to help you out quick!!!

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Bill Lublin

March 18, 2009 at 8:20 pm

So at least I know why you haven’;t been poking me –
;-(

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ines

March 18, 2009 at 8:31 pm

thanks for the warning Susan – that would have majorly sucked!

Bob – they don’t give a crap obviously – it’s pretty sad….I guess we have to be paying members….I’m so over it

I was not ignoring you Bill 🙂

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ines

March 18, 2009 at 8:33 pm

what’s most annoying about this is the amount of people that think I stopped following them…even clients and old friends from gradeschool

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Paul Jackson

March 20, 2009 at 1:43 pm

For some reason all the profile pictures have gone from my home page can anyone help to get them back. It may be just a click away but I’m totally lost.

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mark ding

March 20, 2009 at 6:40 pm

ines i want to try to help you.
visit this website(it is a question topic with many answers):

https://getsatisfaction.com/facebook/topics/my_husband_changed_his_log_in_email_on_facebook_to_the_email_i_use_it_accepted_his_and_now_my

🙂 hope it helps

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ines

March 22, 2009 at 10:07 am

thanks Mark – I actually put a question the day after there as well and have gotten no responses – I even contacted the FB rep there for getsatisfaction.com and didn’t get a response either.

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Kristal Kraft

March 23, 2009 at 1:51 pm

Ines, OK so now I understand why you were rebuilding, what a bummer!

You are correct about not putting all you eggs in one basket when it comes to social media. We need to be generating business from multiple sources.

Relying on social media alone for business is like sitting on a one-legged stool.

At some point you are going to wiping yourself up from the floor.

kk

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Ines Hegedus-Garcia

March 23, 2009 at 1:59 pm

It is a major bummer – someone shared some email addresses last night and I’m giving it a last attempt ( I do hope they restore it)

Love the analogy and also loved seeing you and Larry last night on Jeff’s Qik videos from the Colorado Springs meet up (I hope to see you soon)

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Ines Hegedus-Garcia

March 24, 2009 at 8:22 pm

GOOD NEWS!!! my Facebook account was restored today!! Wooo Hooo! Those emails must have done something but I got an email this morning saying:

This problem should now be resolved. Please use the information below to access your account.

So thanks for letting me vent, it took them 2.5 weeks! (but better than having it gone)

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Jay McGillicuddy

March 25, 2009 at 5:13 am

Congrats Ines, better late than never.

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ines

March 26, 2009 at 7:38 pm

not all of them mark – the silent but deadly ones are the ones that scare me

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TPark01

April 1, 2009 at 9:05 am

Ines:
Congratulations on getting it back. Any help you can offer to someone else on going through this process? Hopefully it won’t take 2.5 weeks. Who did you contact? Who finally did the restore for you.

Any info is greatly appreciated,
T&J

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ines

April 1, 2009 at 10:34 am

TPark01 – can’t guarantee it will work or how long – here’s what I did – send a pleading email to each of these addresses (one email per address) – and needs to be sent from the email that the account was under

warning@facebook.com
appeals@facebook.com
login@facebook.com
mzuckerberg@facebook.com
eschrage@facebook.com
elliot@facebook.com

The one that finally responded and restored it was “appeals”
Hope that helps! GOOD LUCK!

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tomferry

July 1, 2009 at 7:38 pm

Glad to hear it all worked out in the end, but thank you for the warning and head-up!

Reply
ines

July 1, 2009 at 8:34 pm

Me too Tom – super glad and fortunately this post HAS helped others

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Atlanta Real Estate

September 11, 2009 at 7:32 am

Ines,

I’ve very late to this party and I apologize. But, I’ve had these exact same thoughts and fears myself.

I don’t use any of these tools like Facebook, Twitter, etc., but I do run a web site, spend billions of hours on SEO and get nearly ALL my business via lead capture using my IDX feed.

These conversations about IDX going away because the search engines are indexing the listings are what makes me a little nervous.

If that were to happen and I had to get prospects the old fashioned way, it would be time for another of those career changes for me..

Not ever going to:

Farm Neighborghoods
Print thousands of post cards
Keep up with birthdays
Push magnetic calendars
Join large groups and organizations so I can network
Call FSBOs

Can’t and won’t do any of it! No Craig Proctor nonsense for me.

RM

Reply

Business Marketing

Buffer’s four-day workweek experiment: Boost or bust?

(BUSINESS MARKETING) After trying out a four-day workweek last year, Buffer is moving forward with the format going into 2021, citing increase in productivity and work-life balance.

Published

1 day ago

February 24, 2021

Veronica Garcia, Staff Writer

Man working in office with headphones on, making use of flexible four-day workweek.

The typical five-day workweek is a thing of the past for Buffer, at least for now. The company has decided to implement a four-day workweek for the “foreseeable future.”

Last year, the company surveyed its employees to see how they are dealing with the ever-changing landscape of the pandemic and the anxiety and stress that came along with it. They soon learned employees didn’t always feel comfortable or like they could take time off.

Employees felt guilty for taking PTO while trying to meet deadlines. Juggling work and suddenly becoming a daycare worker and teacher for their children at the same time was stressful. So, Buffer looked for a solution to help give employees more time and flexibility to get adjusted to their new routines.

Four-Day Workweek Trials

In May, Buffer started the four-day workweek one-month trial to focus on teammates’ well-being. “This four-day workweek period is about well-being, mental health, and placing us as humans and our families first,” said Buffer CEO and co-founder Joel Gascoigne in a company blog post.

“It’s about being able to pick a good time to go and do the groceries, now that it’s a significantly larger task. It’s about parents having more time with kids now that they’re having to take on their education. This isn’t about us trying to get the same productivity in fewer days,” Gascoigne said.

Buffer’s one-month trial proved to be successful. Survey data from before and after the trial showed higher autonomy and lower stress levels. In addition, employee anecdotal stories showed an increase in worker happiness.

With positive results, Buffer turned the trial into a long-term pilot through the end of 2020. This time, the trial would focus on Buffer’s long-term success.

“In order to truly evaluate whether a four-day workweek can be a success long-term, we need to measure productivity as well as individual well-being,” wrote Director of People Courtney Seiter. “Teammate well-being was our end goal for May. Whether that continues, and equally importantly, whether it translates into customer and company results, will be an exciting hypothesis to test.”

Trial Results

Company Productivity
Buffer’s shorter workweek trials showed employees felt they had a better work-life balance without compromising work productivity. According to the company’s survey data, almost 34% of employees felt more productive, about 60% felt equally as productive, and only less than 7% of employees felt less productive.

However, just saying productivity is higher isn’t proof. To make sure the numbers added up, managers were asked about their team’s productivity. Engineering managers reported that a decrease in total coding days didn’t show a decrease in output. Instead, there was a significant output increase for product teams, and Infrastructure and Mobile saw their output double.

The Customer Advocacy team, however, did see a decline in output. Customer service is dependent on customer unpredictability so this makes sense. Still, the survey showed about 85% to 90% of employees felt as productive as they would have been in a five-day workweek. Customers just had to wait slightly longer to receive replies to their inquiries.

Employee Well-Being
With more time and control of their schedules, Buffer’s survey shows an increase in individual autonomy and decreased stress levels reported by employees. And, the general work happiness for the entire company has been consistent throughout 2020.

What’s in store for 2021?

Based on positive employee feedback and promising company results, Buffer decided it will continue the company-wide four-day workweek this year.

“The four-day work week resulted in sustained productivity levels and a better sense of work-life balance. These were the exact results we’d hoped to see, and they helped us challenge the notion that we need to work the typical ‘nine-to-five,’ five days a week,” wrote Team Engagement Manager Nicole Miller.

The four-day workweek will continue in 2021, but the company will also be implementing adjustments based on the pilot results.

For most teams, Fridays will be the default day off. For teams that aren’t project-based, their workweek will look slightly different. As an example, the Customer Advocacy team will follow a different schedule to avoid customer reply delays and ticket overflow. Each team member will still have a four-day workweek and need to meet their specific targets. They will just have a more flexible schedule.

Companies who follow this format understand that output expectations will be further defined by area and department level. Employees who aren’t meeting their performance objectives will have the option to choose a five-day workweek or might be asked to do so.

If needed, Fridays will also serve as an overflow workday to finish up a project. Of course, schedules will be evaluated quarterly to make sure productivity is continuing to thrive and employees are still satisfied.

But, Miller says Buffer is “establishing ambitious goals” that might “push the limits” of a four-day work week in 2021. With the world slowly starting to normalize, who knows when a four-day workweek might reach its conclusion.

“We aren’t sure that we’ll continue with the four-day workweeks forever, but for now, we’re going to stick with it as long as we are still able to hit our ambitious goals,” wrote Miller.

Business Marketing

Should your content management system go headless?

(BUSINESS MARKETING) You may be familiar with your typical content management system, but had you heard of a ‘headless’ model? Let’s dig into it together.

Published

1 week ago

February 15, 2021

Veronica Garcia, Staff Writer

Person using content management system with hands on keyboard and small bit of desktop visible.

At some point, you have probably worked with a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or Drupal. If you haven’t already, you at least know that this computer software is used to manage website content.

But, have you ever heard of a headless content management system before? We didn’t. So, we set out to find out what it’s all about and how beneficial, or not, it can be for your company.

What is headless CMS?

Unlike your classic CMS, headless CMS is a back-end only content management system. It decouples where your content is stored and authored (body) from the front-end where your content is displayed (head).

This CMS isn’t tied to a particular output like a web page. Content is transmitted as data over an application programming interface (API). It’s a content repository that delivers content seamlessly to any device.

Benefits of Headless CMS

More versatile
Headless CMS isn’t your classic “monolithic” CMS so you aren’t constrained to an all-in-one system that might work for websites but not mobile devices.

Content is consumed by customers in more than one place now. Headless CMS provides a more versatile way to deliver multi-channel content to websites, Android and iOS apps, and even IoT (internet of things), like a smartwatch or in-store kiosk.

Businesses will benefit from this because only one back-end is needed to manage and publish content for different services and products.

No need for specialized developers
Developers aren’t tied to a specific programming language or framework. A developer can choose between using Javascript, PHP, Ruby, or any language they prefer.

If you already have a talented developer, you don’t have to scramble to find someone else who specializes in a specific system or language you are moving to. Your current developer can do the job for you in the best way they know-how.

Better Security
Security is important. Not being married to the front-end, headless CMS has a security advantage a regular CMS doesn’t. Usually, content provided to a headless CMS is read-only, and the admin portion lives on a different server and domain.

With the back-end detached from the presentation layer, there is a smaller target area to attack. Also, layers of code can be used to hide the content-delivering API making it safer than a traditional CMS.

Real-time collaboration
With two separate systems, content editors and web developers can work concurrently. This shortens a project’s timeline and helps get your product and services to market quicker. Also, content editors don’t have to spend more time creating the same content for each system. Designers and developers can take care of that.
Downsides of Headless CMS

As with anything, headless CMS isn’t perfect and isn’t for everyone. It has its disadvantages.

More technical
Little technical involvement is called for in a traditional CMS. As a result, the tool can be picked up quickly by almost anyone.

A deeper understanding of CMS, coding languages, and front-end technologies is needed when using headless CMS. You must have a developer that can build the web or app just for you.

Increased maintenance
With the body separated from the head, there are two systems to maintain. Implementation and maintenance could potentially become complex.

Bigger price tag
Building a system from scratch costs time and money. With a traditional CMS, there is one account, and, most likely, one payment. With headless CMS, you’ll have multiple payments for the CMS, a developer, and the infrastructure running your website or app.

Your custom CMS also isn’t coming from a pre-built content management system. All that hard work takes time (and patience) to get it done right.

Conclusion

Headless CMS lets you create a unique user experience and allow for cross-platform publishing, but it isn’t a one-size-fits-all content management system.

Before you jump ships, take inventory of all your content needs. Does your content need to be published on different platforms? Will a simple stand-alone website work for you? Only you can decide what works best with your business, but we hope this information helps.

Business Marketing

Spice up your remote team building with a fully virtual escape room

(BUSINESS MARKETING) As part of a remote team, team building has become even more of a groan. But this virtual escape room seeks to make a fun and unique challenge for remote teams.

Published

2 weeks ago

February 12, 2021

Veronica Garcia, Staff Writer

Woman waving at laptop in living room, on team building activity.

Team building events aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. While some enjoy getting to know coworkers they don’t normally socialize with, others dread the day before it arrives. Plus, there’s always work that needs to be taken care of, and using some of that time to mingle might seem like a waste of time.

Love it or hate it, working remotely has made team building slightly better, maybe? You don’t have to worry about physically being present in a place you don’t want to be. You’re not awkwardly talking to a co-worker whose name you can’t quite remember.

Nonetheless, it also has its downsides. We don’t see each other anymore so it’s easier to not be on the same page, and this makes learning how to work together much harder.

We’re almost a year into the pandemic and happy hour Zoom calls no longer hold the glamour they once did. So, what else is there to do in this virtual world?

Skyrocket Your Team has just the answer for you. This company provides virtual team building experiences through collaborative online escape rooms. The escape rooms are designed with remote teams in mind and can be tailored to accommodate different sized groups.

“If you’re working remotely, Skyrocket Your Team will help your team feel closer together and improve your internal communication,” wrote Co-Founder Jorge Sánchez Hernández. “Our puzzles are designed for teams by adult educators to trigger a set of emotions, feelings, and situations. Everyone sees a different screen and you need to communicate in order to get through the challenges. There is no way to continue without teamwork!”

From the comfort of your office or couch, each team member joins from their own computer and location. The escape room consists of an immersive story about astronauts trapped in a damaged spaceship. By solving puzzles and challenges, the team must work together to repair the spaceship and return to earth.

After hopefully, safely landing your rocket, there is a debriefing session. During this time, teams can share their experiences and discuss what they learned.

Skyrocket Your Team says their new form of team building will bring your company several benefits like:

Bringing your team closer together
Fostering collaboration instead of internal competition
Improving communication across your company

The end goal of the experience is to learn how to communicate effectively by solving the different sets of problems together. And, I think we can all agree that’s a good thing.