Facebook fan page confusion

Yet more changes from Facebook… now it’s Community Pages versus Fan Pages. What should a small business choose when employing social media? No worries; we’re here to help understand the difference between  Fan pages on Facebook and the new Community pages.

Right after Facebook changed the way you connect with a page from “Become a Fan” to just “Like this page”, they announced a new kind of page. This new Community page is designed to serve a very specific purpose. Facebook is telling users “the owners of an entity should create Fan pages for that entity” and “people who are interested in a topic or an entity but do not own it should create a Community page.”

That boils down to businesses creating Fan pages for their company, product or brand and individuals creating Community pages to talk about certain topics or interests. It seems Facebook is pulling back from the general public being able to create a “Richmond Flying Squirrels” fan page and leaving that up to the actual owner of that entity. Consumers and the public can still create a page to discuss “Richmond Flying Squirrels”, but it can’t be a Fan page; it has to be a Community page since the it wasn’t created by the owner.

Facebook is certainly aiming to reduce the number of Fan pages that aren’t actually representing the companies behind those products and services. As Facebook connects to more brands on more websites via the extended Like plan they unveiled at the F8 conference, it will be more and more important for them to restrict who can create a Like-able page that isn’t the real owner.

So, if you are a small business and you want to create a Facebook page to assist in branding, to be your cornerstone in reaching your audience via social media, and to provide a place for your customers to talk to you, you should still be creating a Fan page for your company. We have guides for creating Facebook Fan pages for business on the AdLinea website. For individuals, you’re limited to Community pages and Group pages.