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Continuing to dig deeper into social media, specifically Facebook, what do you do if you already have a personal Facebook page. Do you use it as your author page as well? Or would it be better to create a separate “business” page? On her site, Jane Friedman talks about her experiences and the solution she finally arrived at. What have you done? I struggle with the same issue for a future Publetariat Facebook page. It could be a lovely way to connect. But it is also like a puppy, you think you want one but once you have it you have to feed it and clean up after it.
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The Pros and Cons of Using a Facebook Profile But Not an Official Page
by Jane Friedman
One of the first marketing tasks given to authors by agents, publishers, and publicists is: Start an official Facebook page.
So far, I have not done this for myself. Instead, I use my Facebook profile with the “following” function turned on. That means I have private friends, but also public followers.
I want to discuss the pros and cons of this choice, but first I’ll describe the history of my experience and how I ended up in this situation to begin with. (Scroll down to the pros and cons if you’re impatient.)
2006–2009: “Real” Friends Only
I joined Facebook in 2006. At first, I only friended people I knew well and had met in person—and I rarely received requests from strangers. These were the days (hard to imagine now) when few people used the site.
As I started speaking and meeting writers at conferences, and especially once I started blogging, I tentatively started friending people I had virtual relationships with, but had not met. It felt a little dirty, because at that time, Facebook used to ask for confirmation on how you knew someone, and if you couldn’t verify it, you received an informal reprimand.
Then I noticed that some of my colleagues with even more liberal friend policies had engaged communities of people around them, and valuable discussions were happening in the comments. So I decided to open the door to anyone who asked. (At this point in the game, Facebook didn’t offer a way for people to “follow” you.)
2009-2011: Everyone’s a Friend!
My Facebook use has been fairly conservative when it comes to the private details of my life. Probably the most personal things I share are travel photos and cat pics.
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