How to optimize your account for privacy

When Facebook rolled out their “new” privacy settings last week it created quite a buzz in the online community.  The truth is very few changes were made to the privacy options, but Facebook attempted to have users share more of their personal information.

How did they do it?  Upon login, Facebook users were greeted with a guided tour of their privacy settings.  Unfortunately, the default selections they chose  for users included sharing their “about me” information, “family and relationships” information and status updates. Without a doubt the process tricked a large number of users into sharing information with search engines they would not ordinarily share.

Who can see your Facebook profile information?

If you have a Facebook account, I urge you to educate yourself on the specifics of their privacy settings.  Rather than reinventing the wheel by detailing these settings, I would like to share 3 wonderful resources containing the information you will need in order to protect yourself.

1. 10 New Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know – AllFacebook.com updated their privacy setting recommendations to reflect the latest Facebook changes.  This list gives some very useful advice for making your own decisions on which information you should share and with whom.
2. Top 10 Things You Should Not Share on Social Networks – This article from HowStuffWorks.com does not specifically address the Facebook issue, but it does a nice job explaining which things you should not share in your social media accounts.
3. Facebook’s New Privacy Push Concerns Experts – When information regarding the Facebook changes was released, Adam Ostrow at Mashable.com was quick to gather insight from online security experts.  The article quotes opinions from a number of experts and also includes a video of the new privacy setup (see below).

It remains to be seen how these latest privacy decisions will affect other forms of social media, but you can be certain that Facebook will continue to be bashed publicly for how they handled the transition.

Will privacy concerns slow the growth and usage of Facebook in the coming months? Stay tuned.  It’s only a matter of time before we started hearing stories about the fallout of users that were duped into sharing their information with the rest of the world.

Which is the better marketing tool?

Now that Facebook has announced it’s changes to Facebook Groups, the differences between “Groups” and “Pages” have become even more blurred.  At first glance, the new layout for Groups looks eerily similar to the Pages format.  However, a deeper look into the remaining differences illustrates two very distinctive purposes.

New Facebook Group Changes:

1. Groups now have a wall just like Pages and Profiles (see image below)
2. Comments are now allowed on member posts
3. When a friend posts to the group it will now be visible on your news feed

New Facebook group page example

Despite the similar look and feel, Facebook explains some of the differences in a recent blog post.

“Keep in mind that while Groups and Pages now look the same, they still serve different purposes. Groups are for fostering member-to-member collaboration, while Pages remain the best way to broadcast messages to your fans if you are a business, organization, public figure or other entity.”  Facebook Blog

If you are using a Facebook Group for your business presence, there are two ways members will see your posts to the group.  First – If the Group member is also a friend, they may see your post on their news feed.  Second – Members who are not also friends will only see your post if they navigate directly to the Group page.

Why is this?  Simply put, Groups are intended to be a sub-community within Facebook for discussing common interests.   Facebook wants to enable users to start a Group regarding any subject for any purpose.  By continuing to offer Groups and Pages, Facebook is clearly recognizing the need for both options.

“You can form a Facebook Group around any community you’re connected to in your real life: book clubs, sports teams, churches, whatever you want.” Facebook Blog

Facebook fan page example

On the other hand, Facebook Pages are intended for businesses and organizations to have a professional presence in the Facebook community.  They serve to create an environment for fans to listen, learn and communicate with entities they know and trust.  Furthermore, Pages offer several behind-the-scenes benefits over Groups.

Business Benefits of a Facebook Fan Page:

1. Pages are easily customizable with FBML and apps
2. The content on Pages is visible to unregistered users meaning it is also indexed by the search engines
3. Pages offer analytics (page insights).  Although these are rudimentary, there is some value in knowing the demographics and fan reaction.
4. There is greater opportunity to foster a long-term relationship with your fans
5. You can promote your page with Facebook ads
6. You can claim a custom URL when you have 100+ fans

The bottom line is that Facebook Pages have been the better choice for marketing since they were launched.  It may be that the visual similarity between Pages and Groups will be confusing to some users.  But a quick look under the hood of each reveals the true winner – Pages.