(via Ambuj Saxena)
I just need to vent for a second … sort of
Profile me?
Have you noticed the proliferation of business etc signing up on to Facebook to interact with the community as a Profile, rather than as a Page? In fact, I have watched many businesses that now have both a Page and a Profile, but use their business Profile as their main point of interaction. Business ‘Profile’? I thought this was against the Facebook rules? Or, at least it used to be. But, there is a reason they do this, and a reason I am jealous of them for doing it; a Profile allows its’ administrator(you) to interact with the Facebook Community in ways a Page does not.
Upgrade the Overhaul
Last week, Facebook made available their most recent Upgrade for Pages, and it is a reasonable overhaul. It allows me to do small things that I like, such as, comment on my Page as myself, rather than only as my Page. Sometimes you might want to write an opinion that is your own, but not necessarily carried by your brand, for example. On the other hand, I can also browse my Facebook world as my Page, commenting on other Pages as my Page. So, enabling businesses, for example, to talk back and forth on each others’ Pages. These are both good additions. Another upgrade was allowing me to post a picture to my Profile, and then tag one of my Pages in it, so that it also appears on my Page. Useful too I suppose. Saves some time in some situations.
So, these upgrades allow me to interact with my Page, and help my Page interact with the greater Facebook Community. And, that’s great. But, I already interact with my Page. What I REALLY want is for my fans/the Facebook Community to be able to more easily interact with my Page. After all, that is the point of having one in most cases, isn’t it? What am I talking about?
#1 thing I want Facebook to enable for Pages
Here is the situation that bugs me the most, as an example. When you want to post a picture to my Profile, it is pretty simple. Jump into your Profile > Photos > Upload(paraphrased). Pretty basic stuff. And, everyone understands, and is used to doing this.
The number one thing, the #1 thing I want Facebook to enable our fans to tag a picture with ‘The Drink Toque’, for example, and have it appear in the Page’s photos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If they allow me to do this from my personal Page, then I imagine that when someone views that tagged photo via my Page, that they can’t look at all my Profile photos subsequently. But, maybe they can? … So, the privacy concerns are, I suppose, trying to limit the business’ opportunity to troll your personal pictures … But, if I can tag from my personal Profile to appear on my Page(s), then it could be done from every one of my Fan’s Profiles as well. Furthermore, when a personal friend of mine is tagged in someone’s Photo Album, I see that in my personal feed, and can already link to that Photo Album, and be suddenly lurking around a Photo Album of someone I do not know. So, this situation doesn’t seem to be a problem out there in the general Community. And, you can set your privacy settings to avoid it.
Tag, you’re it Facebook
Making it easier to interact with Pages is a good thing as far as I am concerned. Especially in the example above. Meanwhile, there are many businesses adopting a Profile to get around this, skirting the rules of Facebook as far as I know. Allowing my Page greater tools to interact with the greater Community is great; allowing the greater Community to more easily interact and support their favourite Pages still has room to grow! (or should I just make the Page a Profile?)
What is the #1 thing you want Facebook to enable for your Page?