Facebook Subscriptions and Further Changes to Pages

Facebook has made 2 updates to its interface this week, as part of an ongoing campaign to improve the experience for all users.

Firstly, Facebook Subscriptions. There is now an option to subscribe to personal profiles – without becoming a friend of that individual. This will benefit public figures, journalists, politicians, celebrities etc, who might want their updates seen by a wider audience. Remember there is a limit of 5000 “friends” per personal profile, but there is no limit on Facebook Subscriptions.

Subscriptions are NOT intended to replace Pages – the functionality is different. But there’s no reason why individuals should not use both subscriptions and pages. Here’s a summary of the differences between Facebook Subscriptions and Pages:(click picture to enlarge)

According to Facebook,

“A profile with subscribers is ideal if you want to personally connect with people who are interested in you.
It’s fun to receive updates from friends and others that you want to subscribe to. And it’s easy to publish to your subscribers on the go. Anyone who subscribes to your profile can receive your public posts in their News Feed”.

and on the differences between Subscriptions and Pages, they say:

“Pages have advanced marketing features for managing your brand or business on Facebook.
Pages can be maintained by multiple people on your team. They offer insights to understand who your fans are, and let you target posts by language and location. (For example: Tell only fans in New York about your show there next week.)You can also promote Pages with Facebook Ads and Sponsored Stories.”

Worried about your subscribers seeing all your updates (some of which may not be suitable for “public” consumption”)?  No need to be! Subscribers will only see the updates you share publicly; you still have the option to set who sees your updates at the time of posting. Subscribers can also choose exactly what type and how many of your public updates they actually receive.

I’ve already set my profile to accept subscriptions and am looking forward to getting updates from people I’d never expect to be friends with. Will you be trying this out?

A Facebook Page

The second major update this week affects Facebook Pages. Last night it was announced that you no longer need 25 “likes” to obtain a short (“vanity”) URL for your Page. This is great news. It means that a business can get a Page up and running quickly, choose a URL and then use it on business cards, website, email / forum signatures, advertising etc. No more having to beg for people to like the Page! However, it would appear that you do still need 30 Likes to get access to Page Insights (analytics). At least you don’t have to worry too much about getting these in a rush!

And yet another update I noticed today….. If you click on the above screenshot of my Facebook Page, you’ll see, as well as the usual updates on the wall, “view 1 share”. This allows the page owner to see instantly who has shared their content. Seems a good idea to me!

The general consensus amongst the social media illuminati is that Facebook has introduced these updates to ensure that the platform is closer in functionality to a potentially massive competitor – Google Plus. With the improvements offered by these tweaks, Facebook afficionados now have no real reason to desert!

What do you think? Do you like the latest Facebook updates? I’d love to hear your comments.

PS _ I wrote this post on September 15th and published today, September 16th. And already we’re seeing yet more updates to the Facebook interface. This article from Simply Zesty gives an excellent summary.

Need help promoting your business via social media? Get started by contacting me on 01777 249075
or by email at info@naomijohnsonsocialmedia.co.uk