Robert Scoble doesn't need a Facebook Page

This could be considered the opposite of yesterdays post: Convert your Profile to a Page?

A while ago Facebook announced the new SUBSCRIBE Button to much hoopla.

Subscribe? Yeah, It essentially gives people the option to subscribe to your ‘public’ posts on your Profile without having to become friends. I have quite a few people waiting in my friend request queue. I’ve hit the limit (5,000 friends and Page LIKES) and cannot add another friend or LIKE another page without first un friending or un liking someone or something. You can see that’s an issue right?

So I really like the new SUBSCRIBE option and have enabled it on my Profile (http://www.facebook.com/MikeMueller).

Warning to Post Skimmers: Despite what you may think so far, this isn’t a double rainbow post on how wonderful the new button is. It’ll start out that way, but you’ll have to read below to get to the meat. That’s a little ironic as I daily use the ‘Scoble Method’ in my Google Feed Reader. But back to the Double Rainbow…

I watched as it unfolded and in particular, guess who was one of the 1st?

See that little SUBSCRIBED button? Yup, I’m a subscriber!

WOW! That’s pretty cool. Hey, my Page isn’t combined with my Profile – I wonder how he did that? So did Jesse.

I’m guessing it pays to have friend like Mark. So now, all of Robert’s LIKEs just became subscribers of his Profile. I verified that by looking at his sidebar.

11,649 people were just transferred from a Page LIKE to a SUBSCRIBE. They didn’t ask to do this, Facebook just made it ‘happen’.

NOTE: Just because you add the “SUBSCRIBE” option, it doesn’t mean you are going to lose your page. Robert is special. Following along with the story, both Jesse and Robert think this is great.

BUT…

I don’t want to step on your metaphorical French Horns but you are NOT Robert Scoble and you still probably need a Page. Here’s why.

While it does lower the access barrier between you and your next client (there’s no mutual friend request and acceptance), and I think that’s a great thing, your profile is still a Profile.

SERPS: Profile’s are not indexed by search engines – Your Page is. Want to be found for long tail searches in Google? The SEO of your Page is your friend.

COMMERCIAL CONTENT: Facebook’s Terms of Service still state you cannot publish anything of commercial value on your Profile. You can and are encouraged to do so on your Page.

YOUR NAME: Your Profile must be your real name i.e. ‘Mike Mueller’. Names like ‘Mike Mueller, Sunny Acres Real Estate Agent’‘ are not allowed and may be deleted. Your Page can be any name you like, ‘Mike Mueller, Your Super Sunny Acres Agent’ or even “Living the Sunny Acres Lifestyle’ are perfect for pages.

YOUR TEAM: ONLY you can log in and post as your Profile – Your Page can have multiple Admins. Have a team? Nobody is allowed to sign in as you and Facebook is tracking logins by IP.

ANALYTICS: There’s NO Insights (Facebook’s version of Google Analytics) on a Profile – Your Page has full Insights. You can see which posts are liked shared and by what demographics. If you haven’t poked around the new Insights they are simply amazing!

DEFAULT LANDING TAB: Your Profile can’t haz them. Meanwhile, your Page can! Remember a Default Landing Tab is the first thing anyone viewing your page sees if they have not yet LIKE’d it or are not signed in to Facebook (as in coming from a Google search).

ADVERTISING: Speaking of Analytics, Demographics and Landing Tabs… Want the best return on your advertising dollars? Just run an ad campaign to a laser focused demographic target which when clicked brings the potential client to a Custom Built Tab that has been specifically built for that ad campaign. HINT: This would not be the wall, info or even the Landing Tab. As you might guess, your Profile can’t do that.

Moral of the Story

I really like the ability to subscribe to people like Robert. I’m still waiting for him to accept my friend request. And I love that you can now get all my ‘public’ posts in your stream. I’ll still do my best to add you all as real friends. But the absolute truth remains.

We are NOT Robert Scoble and we do still need our Pages.

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Mike Mueller

A former professional hand model, Mike now builds Custom WordPress Blogs that rock!

He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one,bought a cool orange one, and still rides a really slow one), he loves strong beer and good red wine.