Thoughts on contacting the seller directly through Facebook?

[Jason Wiser]

We are very new to REI, in fact, we have not bought a property yet. That said, we have placed several offers and some we even offered cash and went 5-7% over asking... and lost.

We're in Northern Michigan and like everywhere else, inventory is extremely low up here. 

Anyway, we are wondering if maybe sellers are steering clients in ways so they can double dip ~ 6%. 

Right now, we have a seller agent that is not being very cooperative and we are wondering if they are holding our offer so they can work directly with some Zillow leads directly so they don't have to share? 

Ok, so that is off topic, so let me come back. Is there ever a time when you might reach out to the seller directly thorough FB or email? 
It is really easy to pull the plat book, look up the owners, search for them on FB, and find them.

Anyway... I don't mean to ramble, but just wondering if any of you experienced buyers ever reach out to sellers directly though social media or email to "do some research" 

[Drew Sygit]

If I'm a seller and you go around my agent to contact me directly... you better have a great reason to do so! Othewise, I don't want to be pestered.

Not understanding part of your post. If you are going through the listing agent directly, they won't have to split commission.