Imagine you have 5,000 followers on each of your social media platforms, and one day, as you go to post a pic of your new baby cannabis clones, it’s all gone… no heads-up, no warning, your profiles are just gone. . .

For dispensaries in Arizona, Colorado, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey and Washington that is exactly what happened last week. Their painstaking work of steadily building on online following, gone in an instant.

But this small business misfortune is turning into a common trend for marijuana industry businesses. Chances are you’ve clicked a Facebook or Instagram link for one of your go-to dispensaries only to find that the page does not exist.

It’s still unclear why the social media giants wield their power this way, but there are some risk factors. . .

  1. Being a smaller business – Industry giants appear to be unaffected.
  2. Having a large enough audience to be noticed – 5k followers or more and the heat is on!
  3. Partaking in the Mary J – Showing pictures of smoke or consumption is a risky move.
  4. Advertising deals or in-store promotions on the profiles – Pro tip: Advertising deals on Leafbuyer.com is still a safe (and frankly genius) move.

Who knows when our boy Zuckerberg will ease up. But this fast-moving industry will not wait around forever. Patients and marijuana aficionados in legal states are now seeking security in cannabis-friendly platforms like MassRoots.