In Facebook World, most people sign up for a Personal Account. This is the usual, initial sign-up where we add “friends.” We can choose to accept or ignore “friend requests.” We can control who we allow onto our account and our privacy settings. Some of us may reserve facebook for only those people we’ve met in real life, old school buddies, long lost relatives, etc. Others of us pretty much accept anyone onto our account.
A professional facebook Page, on the other hand, is slightly different from a personal account. In “old” facebook terminology, the page was called a “Fan Page.” Thankfully, facebook dropped the “Fan” part and now it’s simply called a “Page.” Anyone can come to our “Page” and “Like” us there. It’s open to the public.
So, yes, I now have a Personal Account AND a Page. Both are free and easy to set up. I debated long and hard about the decision. After talking with my web designer, Kelli Standish, about the entire issue, I decided to give the Page a try. And now that I have, I’m glad I did. Here are a few of the reasons why I chose to open a Page.
1. Personal accounts have a friend limit. Currently the limit is 5000. My personal account rocketed to over 1000 in less than a year during my pre-publication days. After publication it’s possible that eventually I won’t have room to add anyone to my personal account.
2. We can get off to a good start. I’ve found it slightly awkward when others decide to start their Page and then ask me to stop following their personal account to follow their page. I’d rather steer most people toward my Author Page right from the start, especially readers.
3. I can keep my personal account more personal. Like most of you, I’ve connected with tons of real-life friends and family on my personal account. I don’t want to overwhelm them with stuff about my book and writing. Occasionally I share news about my writing with friends and family, but only because I’m really excited, not because I’m trying to promote myself.
4. I can direct new contacts to my Author Page. I still get quite a few requests for friendships from people I don’t know—probably because facebook recommended me to them because we have 300 friends in common (or something like that!). I always accept friends that I know through blogging or twitter or some other way. But for those who are complete strangers, I can now suggest they join my Author Page.
5. The Author Page can be more purposeful for my writing career. My Page says right on it, “The official reader page of Author, Jody Hedlund.” Those who "Like" the Page know what they’re signing up for. They expect that I’ll share information about my books, my blog posts, and my writing life. Of course I want to be as personal there as possible. But no one is going to roll their eyes when I post information about my book because that’s what the page is for.
6. Most importantly, I have a place for readers. I want a place that’s easily accessible. I don’t want anyone to have to wait until I get around to “accepting” their friend request in order to connect with me. With the Author Page, readers can immediately come, get the latest news, and join in the conversation.
Personal Account or Professional Page? The debate still rages. Ultimately every author needs to do what works best for them. Hopefully, I’ve given you something to think about as you make the decision for yourself! For a couple other opinions on the matter visit Writer Unboxed: To Have or Not Have a Facebook Page and Using Facebook to Amplify Your Reach (by Jane Friedman).
So, what are your thoughts? Do you have a Page and if so why did you choose it? And if you’ve opted NOT to have a Page and are sticking with a personal account, what led you to that decision?
P.S. Don't miss this week's chance to win a copy of The Preacher's Bride! Click here to answer an easy trivia question and get your name in the drawing!
Posts
I think that's a great idea. Having a 'Page' is a nice separation of private and public. Hope it all goes well.
ReplyDeleteIt's a perfect tool for authors who are published. A great way to advertise and for readers to keep up with author news.
ReplyDeleteMy impression is that a lot of authors felt too obnoxious creating a fan page. But it totally makes sense to keep your book followers separate from personal. I'm all for the separate page.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great idea. Even though I'm not on Facebook now, I would rather keep the personal contacts personal and not overwhelm them with writing, books, etc. But I would want my writer and reader friends (old and new) to be able to connect with me.
ReplyDeleteI haven't made this step for lots of reasons but enjoyed your discussion, as usual.
ReplyDeleteSigh. Another thing to ponder...
Blessings,
Patti
I definitely like the idea of having a place for facebook lovers to visit and see that an author has posted a new blog post or has exciting news to share with readers. It allows readers who want to be involved with you as a writer to get involved. Erin Healy uses a facebook page to get readers involved fairly effectively. And facebook allows readers to easily see updates a little differently than Twitter. And like you said, you can still share a more personal side on the personal page.
ReplyDeleteLove your pros for a Page. I've put some thought into what makes it a good idea or not, and you've been very helpful. Thanks, Jody!
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, at what point is one ready? For me personally, I hesitate to take certain steps (snagging an author page on facebook, or launching a website) until I'm agented. How do you know when it's time?
I totally agree with this strategy. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow, I didn't know there was a professional page. I have a personal page, but I don't use FB much. It gets my blog feeds, and I accept FB friends, but I'm too busy with my wip, my blog, and Twitter to deal with it.
ReplyDeleteHey, check out Michael Hyatt up there...pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo. I just wanted to stop by to say it has been fun watching you journey through this. I remember when you first signed onto FB. God is doing huge things with your writing, Jody.
I'm enjoying witnessing it.
~ Wendy
I've still been calling them 'fan' pages! Thanks for letting me know of the change. I believe a professional page is a must for authors, along with other professionals and business. I'm glad you dove in and embraced the technology.
ReplyDeleteI'm not 'big' enough yet for a personal page. But I can't wait until I am! Thanks for processing some of this out loud for the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteI don't "do" Facebook at all, so I know very little about it! I'm curious about it, but my husband prefers that I just stick to blogging.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to look up your page now. :) I'm curious...Do you think you created the author page at the right time, or do you wish you'd done it sooner?
ReplyDeleteGood for you! I think the fan pages are a great idea. I have a personal account for keeping in touch with my family and my high school and college friends. But whenever I do get published, I will set up a Page. Thousands of people are on Facebook, and it's a great way for fans to receive updated information since whoever likes the page will see updates on their news feeds. Some people might forget to check out an author's website for updated info, but they'll always see their Facebook news feed!
ReplyDeleteI'm not an author, but as a CEO & blogger I've been considering creating a Facebook page to engage with people who are not family & close friends. IMO, the biggest challenge is that there's not a clear distinction between public & private. There are some people I've developed friendships with through blogging and Twitter who I would consider better friends than my "in real life" friends.
ReplyDeleteMy concern is the awkwardness when one of them sends me a friend request and then I say, "sorry you can't be my 'friend' but you can be my 'fan.'"
Anyone else share this concern or have this experience?
This is fascinating! I didn't know all the benefits. I think it would be presumputious for me but if I was in your position I would totally do this. I love how your posts are constantly reporting back on the milestones of what being a new author is like. I have so much fun reading your blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Jody,
ReplyDeleteThank you fro sharing your thoughts and process as you went about forming a FB Page. I actually did the same, about a month ago, because I had a series of articles go up on the AOL sites and wanted to have a FB landing spot for non-personal friends to find. I agree with the personal page for personal use, and the page for professional use. It makes total sense. And as I've kept to only personal friends on my personal page, I can keep personal stuff there without sending book stuff in large amounts.
Since it's free, and it can be done well, I think a FB Page makes sense for all people who want to have the hassle-free place to connect with people who really want to see their stuff.
Congrats,
Jennifer King
Thanks for this! I plan to get a page once I know there may be people joining it...like, once I'm officially getting published. :)
ReplyDeleteI think a FB Author Page is entirely appropriate for you, Jody, and I completely understand and agree with your reasons. However, I've seen others without a book or any credentials to speak of create a FB Page and I just sort of scratch my head.
ReplyDeleteWhile I have a personal FB page, for me, it's not yet time to create a professional Page. If and when I receive a book contract, I'll revisit the idea.
I appreciate your honest and open thoughts on this, Jody. Thank you for leading the way! :)
Janna asked: On the other hand, at what point is one ready? For me personally, I hesitate to take certain steps (snagging an author page on facebook, or launching a website) until I'm agented. How do you know when it's time?
ReplyDeleteMy Answer: Janna, GREAT question! I think it's definitely something we can do fairly early in our writing careers. It's free, it doesn't have to be a lot of hassle, and we can reserve our link (YES, for the Page we need to get 25 people to "like" us before we can reserve our name as the link).
Maybe our Pages won't be "big" hangouts for people early on. But instead of having a regular facebook link on our blogs or elsewhere, we could put our Page link. Then complete strangers can head over and follow us there right from the start. And if later, those people become closer friends, we can always invite them to join our personal accounts.
In summary, I don't think it's ever too soon. It can't hurt, and may even help organize some of those facebook followers better.
Sarah Forgrave asked: Do you think you created the author page at the right time, or do you wish you'd done it sooner?
ReplyDeleteMy Answer: Another great question! I personally wish I'd started sooner. When I've gotten requests from other writers that I don't know over on my personal account, I've usually accepted them. But because I post mostly personal information, I sometimes wonder if I'm "boring" them with my comments and whether they expected me to have more writerly comments! If I'd had my Page set up earlier, I could have directed them there--where I try to do more of a mix of personal and professional. As it is, I now have a large group on my personal account that I don't really know and who now get to hear all kinds of comments about my kids and vacations and stuff like that! :-)
Paul Steinbrueck asked: My concern is the awkwardness when one of them sends me a friend request and then I say, "sorry you can't be my 'friend' but you can be my 'fan.'"
ReplyDeleteAnyone else share this concern or have this experience?
My thoughts: Paul, that's been a very real concern of mine too. It's gotten incredibly hard and time-consuming for me to go through my personal account friend requests and figure out who really wants to "friend" me versus those sending generic requests to everyone and their brother (or men seeking relationships!).
So, most of the time now, unless I'm familiar with the name, I "ignore" the friend request. I simply opt not to say anything rather than ask them to follow me somewhere else. I have my Page link splattered everywhere now--on my blog, website, email signature. If someone is truly interested in following me, they'll find my Page link.
Not sure if I'm approaching this the right way! Would love to hear how others handle it!
Great post! I have both, and use them exactly the way you do. The only thing that bothers me is that if I "like" another author or artist's page, it links back to my personal profile instead of my professional one. It's not a huge deal, but still, it would be nice to be able to control it. I ignore requests to my personal page from people I don't know, too. ;-)
ReplyDeleteJody..I just love everything you are doing: setting up a website, Like page, blogging. Honestly, your publishers should worship you. I seldom see authors going about their marketing strategy in such a dignified way.
ReplyDeleteMy friends have started a fan page for me, like you I feel extremely awkward to ask people who send me random requests to join me there. I just ignore their requests. But I feel I should atleast put it on my blog and give the page some visibility.
I like calling it a professional page rather than a fan page--or even just page.
ReplyDeleteThere's some encouragement these days to have a professional page if you have a blog--even if you aren't yet published. Seems to work very well for many.
Hi Jody,
ReplyDeleteI too have a "Page" and a personal page. I use my "page" for blog and book related information, it is linked to my Twitter account so I can spread the word much easier.
I reserve my personal page for info about the family, keeping in touch with friends, etc...
Interestingly I started with the page and then added the personal page because friends and family were posting personal info (what they were eating, where they were going on vacation, you get the idea) on my "page" and I didn't think it helped portray a professional image.
I have been doing this for the past year and it has worked out great.
Suzanne Santillan
This sounds like a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI would initially feel overwhelmed, but after looking at all the positives I am easily swayed.
Great post! I did mine rather recently. I'm glad I started it earlier - it's kind of nice to be able to set up a system and them run with it from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteTo Ronda and anyone else who might wonder (if they're doing it too soon):
You can start your fan page and work on it without publishing it. You can build up some content, links, photos, etc., without it being available for anyone. You can even get 25 of your friends to like it, set your name for it, and then go back to it being set private until you feel ready.
I think it's a great idea if you like Facebook. I really don't even like having a personal page. If I ever get to the point of publication, I might find that a professional page is more to my tastes.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a wonderful way to differentiate. I don't have a page. YET.
ReplyDeleteLove
Jen
I like the idea of a Page. You've given some very good reasons for having one. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI felt like a TOTAL DORK when I first set up my "like" page (because back then it was still an oh-so-vain "fan" page). But I'm really glad I have one--for all the reasons you list here, not to mention the fact that vanity "likes" company. :) Thanks, Jody!
ReplyDeleteThis is timely for me because I'm finding my own FB page is already accessed by a mixture of both family and friends and a few writing contacts. It's becoming increasingly awkward to know what comments to post that will be appropriate for everyone there. I thought it was premature to start a "fan" page, but didn't realize, as Wendy has suggested, that one can be set up without publishing it until the time seems right. I might try that. Thanks for such an informative post, Jody!
ReplyDeleteThis is good to know. I have wondered about this, so thanks a bunch:)
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Karen
Hi, Jody! After a lot of debate, I finally created a page for my blog. Eventually, when I get to the point of publication, I'll either transition that to a page for all of my writing, or create a new page. I try to be pretty private about things I post on Facebook. Pictures, etc. I don't want the general, adoring (ha!) public to have access to all of that.
ReplyDeleteA page is both more professional and less personal, but allows for everyone to know - and get - exactly what they're there for!
ReplyDeleteThe other possibility is a Facebook group. Have you considered that? It seems to be the eternal Facebook debate - group or page. Was a group also a consideration for you?
Agreeing with every point you've listed. I am a rather shy personality and want to keep private stuff private. I wouldn't want to bother people interested in my writing work with personal photos or what I just made for dinner. Plus, I don't want to bother my non-writing friends with book updates. Also I have to consider the fact that I am using a pen name. Since my private account contents my real name it just wouldn't go along with each other. I would have to give my private account a whole new 'face' if I would have to start book promotion on there. With an official page on facebook you have the choice to choose the fitting profile picture for promoting your work. And, as you said, the reader immediately knows what he is liking.
ReplyDeleteWonderful blog, Jody!
I think you made the right choice. If I am every fortunate enough to have a book (or more) published, I will add a Page. :-)
ReplyDeleteI'll def. make a page when I'm closer to "official". :-) I think some readers will want to hear about my books, but not necessarily my life. And friends who are interested in me as a person may not really care about my books. So I think it's good to have both.
ReplyDeleteGood post!
A page is def the way to go. I blogged about this a while back, comparing a page to a group:
ReplyDeletehttp://alexisgrant.com/2010/07/01/why-your-biz-or-book-needs-a-facebook-page-not-a-group/
Basically I wanted to tell you how lovely I think your book cover is- absolutely tops!!! Wishing you tons of success.
ReplyDeleteAs for my facebook Account and Page, I noticed I was posting the same things on each, I was practically duplicating myself- It seems that my personal and public life are quite indistinct, so I just post on my Page, though I still get people who want to be "friends" but that's just because they are not "into" the Page system and when they notice there's nothing going on there, they usually join me where the action is. Take care,
Eva
I haven't made the switch yet, but someday I may add a professional page.
ReplyDeleteChick Lit Shorties asked: The other possibility is a Facebook group. Have you considered that? It seems to be the eternal Facebook debate - group or page. Was a group also a consideration for you?
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts: I can honestly say I've never considered a facebook group. And I love Alexis's post that she linked to above. She spelled it out the debate between page and group perfectly!
Hi Jody -
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Personal versus Page was such a hot topic. All I have is a Personal account.
Do you recommend a Page for a pre-published author? Is this a way to build a platform?
Thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Blessings,
Susan :)
Susan asked: Do you recommend a Page for a pre-published author? Is this a way to build a platform?
ReplyDeleteMy Answer: Susan, I really think it depends on how many friend requests you're beginning to get from people you don't know. If you're still mostly keeping your Facebook account private and don't have a lot of requests from new people, then you're probably okay.
For the longest time I had my personal facebook link on my blog and in my email signature. So I was starting to get a lot of FB requests from people I didn't know. Now, I have my Page link in all of those places so that anyone can sign up to follow me there. And I'm reserving my personal account for those I know or have met (even those I've met online).
Really, I don't think it's ever too early to set up the account. But I'd definitely consider it once you're actively trying to build a web presence and trying to attract people to follow you.
I want to do this, but right now I can't. I mean I don't have anything published. I have people on my friend list that I don't know. I have been busy taking them off, just because I just want folks I'm familiar with.
ReplyDeleteBut I will do it when my time comes. And I can't wait. My writing partner's debut book comes out in January and I've been going through the process with her. It is so exciting. I can't wait. Love you my friend. :)
Beautiful book cover. Best of luck in your upcoming release!
ReplyDeleteI think it's a great idea. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteI love this! I've been wondering what I should do. I have a personal page. Now, I need to study how to set up an Author Page. Is there an easy way to move people you don't know very well over to the Author Page? Hmm...
I'm very impressed that you had over 1,000 followers in less than a year.
Great post! :)
Another key issue, which I don't see listed here, has to do with using a Personal Profile rather than a Page, and then accepting people you don't know (readers, fans, etc).
ReplyDeleteRecently, one of our clients needed to log in to her Personal Profile from a different computer location.
Facebook asked her to prove she was the account owner by showing her photos from her friends' albums, and asking her to identify the people in the photos.
The problem? She had no idea who many of the people were.
Facebook has tight security in place in a situation like this.
If you misidentify more than two people in the series of photos shown, they will shut you out of your account.
This is yet another reason to keep your Personal Profile just for friends and people you actually know & can recognize, while using a Page for readers and fans.
I think you've pretty much nailed this one.
ReplyDeleteI always feel squishy when I've been "friends" with someone and then they ask me to "like" their fan page. Truth is, I am a fan, in most cases, so it's okay. But they usually ask me to do both, not "de-friend" them. Feels like a bit much.
And then, some people I consider to be friends, since we've been communicating for years now via blogs and email. I may also be a fan. So am I suddenly not a friend, or was the friendship one-sided?
Too bad FB didn't think this completely through before launching their platform.
I just opened up a second FB profile last week. Since I don't have a book even in the works, I decided to stay with a personal page. I'm keeping my original profile for family contacts only and moving all of my writing friends over to the new account.
ReplyDelete