This has just happened to one of our major facebook fan pages, so I will be watching this very carefully. Stacey Mattocks, the British, one-woman marketing team that was passionate about not seeing another of her shows canceled after Girlfriends was cancelled, wanted to make sure The Game returned to television, is one of the biggest reasons BET turned their attention to acquiring the show.who was credited with being a major force on the return of the sitcom “The Game” has filed a lawsuit against BET (Black Entertainment Television), who had Facebook shut down her fan page and transfer her fans to their non-existent page. Well isn’t that nice. THR has the scoop.
via THR: A woman by the name of Stacey Mattocks is the woman credited with engineering the show’s robust social media following. Mattocks created the show’s Facebook page back when it was on the CW (she later established the Twitter account, too) in 2008. When BET was gearing up for the show’s return, they reached out to Mattocks to figure out a way to work with her and the following she had built. Things were amicable at first, but according to a story in the Hollywood Reporter, the two sides have soured on each other. On Monday, Mattocks filed a lawsuit against the network.
For her work, Mattocks says that BET agreed to pay her $30 per hour to work as a social media “freelancer.” But the network wanted more.
“BET was searching for a more ‘permanent’ way to capitalize on the FB Page and Mattocks’ efforts,” says the lawsuit. “Therefore, on December 15, 2010, BET submitted a proposed contract to Mattocks that would have paid her a maximum of $85,000.00 over a one year period. Mattocks declined this offer because it was unreasonably low, would have stripped her of all rights to the FB Page, and, moreover, could have been terminated at any point by BET, with or without cause.”
According to the complaint, “In newspaper and magazine articles, Mattocks was credited by BET executives for playing a critical role in reviving interest in the Show and making it a massive success with viewers.”
But Mattocks refused to transfer ownership of her Facebook page to BET, and on Feb. 8, 2011, she alleges that Facebook disabled her account.
BET then contacted Facebook to inform the social platform that it had been a “mistake,” says the lawsuit. The account was restored, but the following day, BET allegedly requested that Mattocks provide them with “administrative access.” Mattocks also says she was given a “Letter Agreement,” that provided BET with such access with the assurance that “BET will not change the administrative rights to the Page to exclude you from the Page.”
Mattocks says she executed the agreement fearing that her account would be randomly disabled.
Mattocks said she first created a fan page on Facebook in 2008, and by the time BET picked up the show, it had 750,000 “likes.” As BET prepared to debut the show, the Facebook page helped create “buzz,” and grew at approximately 100,000 “likes” per week. For her work, Mattocks says that BET agreed to pay her $30 per hour to work as a social media “freelancer.” But the network wanted more. “BET was searching for a more ‘permanent’ way to capitalize on the FB Page and Mattocks’ efforts,” says the lawsuit. “Therefore, on December 15, 2010, BET submitted a proposed contract to Mattocks that would have paid her a maximum of $85,000.00 over a one year period. Mattocks declined this offer because it was unreasonably low, would have stripped her of all rights to the FB Page, and, moreover, could have been terminated at any point by BET, with or without cause.”
By August 2012, Mattocks page had 6.7 million fans. Anyone who was a fan of “The Game” knew a fan ran the page, so there was no imitating anyone official. Even CW executives were fans of the page. BET tried to have the page deleted. Then the network asked for administrative rights so that they too could also control the page. BET sent her a cease-and-desist letter and shut down her page.
SMH….
-ByAyanaEllis
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