New Facebook Fan Page!

Last Updated on May 24, 2010 by askcbiorg

Announcing the New CBI Facebook Fan Page!    LINK

Some may ask, “Don’t we have a group already?” That is true, however, Fan Pages are different than “groups” in many ways.

Pages can be thought of in much the same way as normal profiles on the site – brand or celebrity Pages have the ability to have friends, they can add pictures, and they have walls that fans can post on. Pages communicate by “updates” which show on the update tab or a person’s wall if they’re a fan and have allowed the page to show updates. Pages can host applications, so a Page can essentially be more personalized and show more content. Groups can’t do this.

Groups are a bit different than Pages. You can set join permissions on groups so that they are either open to anyone, closed (where users must get administrator approval to join) or secret (invite only). Groups have administrators that manage the group, approve applicants or invite others to join. Administrators can also appoint “officers” who are nominally in charge – however, being an officer doesn’t mean the person has the ability to administer the group.
Because of these privacy settings, Facebook’s groups are analogous to clubs in the offline world.

Both Groups and Pages allow you to create related Events, which show up under the users’ Request (and later in the upcoming events page on the sidebar of their dashboard if they’ve RSVPed). Neither have any added functionality beyond the generally available Facebook Events application.

The Bottom Line
Groups are great for organizing on a personal level and for smaller scale interaction around a cause. Pages are better for brands, businesses, bands, movies, or celebrities who want to interact with their fans or customers without having them connected to a personal account, and have a need to exceed Facebook’s 5,000 friend cap.