The Difference between a Facebook User Profile, Facebook Group & Facebook Fan Page

Often times I have been asked about the difference between a Facebook Group and a Facebook Fan page. Facebook can be confusing when you first join. So without going into too much detail, I will explain the difference between the 3 different types of presences on Facebook.

A user profile is a place on Facebook for your personal information. The place where you can engage with your friends and keep things casual. You can add as much personal information as you’d like. There is a place for pictures, links and other random fun ways to engage with your friends.

A Facebook Group can be created or joined. Groups are formed by Facebook users around a common interest. For instance, Mile High Mamas, which is a website dedicated to Moms in Colorado, has a Facebook group to let members know about recent updates on their website. A group can be created by going to the Groups application and clicking “Create a Group” in the upper right corner of the page. All groups require a group name, description and group type. Groups are not circulated into the members’ feed on their user profile. Therefore if you want to see group updates, you need to go to the group page.

A Facebook Page or also called a Fan page, is meant for businesses, public figures or a brand. Facebook users can become a “fan” of your page/business where they can then interact with your business. A fan page is good because updates made on the fan page are circulated into the home feed of the users. When someone becomes a “fan” of your page, friends of the person who fanned the page can then see that their friend fanned the page, and they then can also fan your  page. I manage a Fan Page for BornFit. I happen to like the Fan page because we can post updates about BornFit events, sales as well as recent blog posts from the BornFit Blog. The Facebook fan page is a great place to gain more traffic for your website and exposure for your business.

Do you have a Fan Page for your business. What sorts of things do you post on there? How do you like having a Fan Page?

Should you ever decide you would like to create a Fan Page for your business, contact me at techtalkformoms@yahoo.com, I have a Facebook Business Page set-up service.