To see all of the different viewpoints here Lynn, has been VERY helpful.

First of all, I think the world of Ed Dale. His (free) 30 Day Challenge is an incredible exchange in abundance with the online marketing world. But I think his advice on this subject is a bit off the mark.

THE example Facebook gives in their Terms of Service — “selling your update status” — is clearly a commercial activity.

Another obvious example would be building up a profile only to sell that “identity” to someone. There are other examples of this kind of clear-cut commercial activity that FB would definitely want to discourage. But I don’t think FB is out to get those of us who have a few business-related links on our profile page and from time to time refer to what we do in an update status.

For many of us, Ed’s advice is just not workable. He has a legion of “followers” and “friends,” many of whom will come and join his fan page. That works when you have that kind of sheer volume, but not so much for the rest of us.

And Lynn, your point about “be my fan” is very spot on. It’s just not the most in-PR way to communicate to people.

And Lynn pointed out the key issue here: We are who we are. If you’re an author, a health care professional, an Internet Marketer…you’re going to share that part of your life on your profile page. You may wish to provide links that bring people to your sites and blogs. From time to time, you’ll say things in your update status that are about what you DO.

I see Facebook evolving into a very positive blend of the personal and the professional. Sometimes a bit too personal; sometimes a bit too professional. But we’re all familiar with the highly effective “remove friend” tool.

I believe we are very capable of policing our own social media communities. Yes, it would be good if FB came out and made this Terms of Service point much clearer. In the meantime, I really like the sanity that this comment thread is giving this subject.

Great post!
@deannatroupe

I am of the camp that it is better to do your marketing with a Facebook page, rather than a profile. I do love Facebook. But, I use it primarily as a social tool to keep track of legitimate relationships – not as a marketing vehicle. But, if I were to use it as such, I would be more inclined to use a page to market.

I think it burns me a little bit when I hear marketers talk about Facebook as if it is a tool, exclusively, to sell and promote themselves. Because, for 99.99999% of the population, that is just not the case. So, you miss the mark competely when that becomes your sole objective. I actually get “turned off” when people try to use their profiles (and my newsfeed) for overtly marketing purposes. It’s a big negative for me. And, those people don’t stay my friends for long. If someone is going to do that, it needs to be on a Page. That’s my 2 cents on the subject. Enjoyed the discussion on this on IMTW. Good one, as always.

I’ll have to do some research on the SEO aspect. I hear that thrown around a lot but I’ve yet to test it myself – or see any proof.

There’s a place for both profiles AND pages. I’ll be glad when they make it easier to connect the two, and provide updates for pages!

Done – and done:
http://www.facebook.com/clicknewz

I already had http://www.facebook.com/lynnterry but for some reason I was thinking I needed 500 fans for the URL change on the page. Appreciate you clearing that up for me!