Facebook is a sometimes useful part of some people’s and some company’s social media presence efforts, and can be very effective in building business relationships and providing a useful outpost where people might connect. It functions reasonably well. There are many useful ways to use it to create meaningful relationships.

I’ve said it before. You don’t have to touch every conversation. You can choose where you build a presence.

I opt not to use a Facebook fan page. I think a page about me is silly and somewhat redundant and pompous.

I never wrote that Facebook fan pages were bad. I never wrote that you shouldn’t have one. I never wrote anything. Several of you supplied your own opinion justifying why YOU had one. Good on you.

This isn’t a joiner’s club, friends. This is business (or community, or whatever you want it to be). If you’re in the “you’re only cool if you’re using all the hottest toys” camp, bless you. Have a ball with that. I’m in the business camp. And a fan page doesn’t enhance my business, my relationships, or anything else I do with my time.

Your mileage may/will/should vary.

Photo credit takomabibelot

Facebook Fan Pages and “Friends”

At this point, it’s a bit different for me. I have to accept that from time to time. But it’s a weird feeling. According to Facebook, I can’t possibly know more than 5000 people. (I feel silly writing this. Tons of people have already written this same blog post.) So, the next step is to create a “fan” page.

The fan page acts pretty much the same way as a profile page, except that the owner of said page can actually do a few more things, include mass messaging. So in a weird way, the “punishment” for having so many friends is that Facebook gives me a way to blanket message them. Huh?

The next question this all brings up is “friends.” Ari Herzog was halfway there in comments on Twitter, spawned from an exchange with me and Alexa Scordato, who offered to “unfriend” me so I’d have some room. This was followed by Meg Fowler offering to unfriend, too.

So wait, it goes further. The next action for people with 5000 “friends” is that my real friends all offer to abandon ship, knowing that they can reach me other ways. So what does that tell you about the kinds of friends you capture and maintain on Facebook? At least from this example, it tells me that my friends and I aren’t using it as a real social hub, that we reach each other on other channels (mostly Twitter).

Fan Pages and Facebook Overall

I use Facebook as part of an outpost strategy. This recent experience all started because I was thinking about where I could put notes about fitness and non-chrisbrogan.com material. I thought maybe I’d use Facebook, but then I realized I was already up to 4694 friends. With a cap of 5000 friends, I wouldn’t be able to build a relationship there.

So, I had a quandry. Start a new platform like a Ning site (as Ari Herzog suggested)? No. That’s too much like filling a pond and stocking it while all the fish are jumping and thriving in the big ocean. Start a Tumbler blog for it? Naw, again, just a bit too much work reminding folks to visit. So, I opted for a Fan page.

But what will really come of it? Not entirely sure. Not sure that it’s the right implementation. But I’m trying it out.

If you want to be my (*cough*) fan, or at least connect on Facebook, please go here.

By the way, if you want to read some great blogs about Facebook, there’s Inside Facebook by Justin Smith (suggested to me by Kari Rippertoe), and there’s Why Facebook, by Mari Smith.

What do you make of all this?