Social Media Tip: Facebook User Profile vs. Facebook Fan Page

You've decided to embark on your social media journey using the
current champion of social media, Facebook. You’re ready to create your
account, but you must decide which type of account: a User Profile or a Fan
Page? Let's take a brief look at both to give you a better idea about which
account best fits your needs.

Using Facebook on a personal level, a “regular” User Profile
account is the way to go. I say “regular,” because this is what the
majority of Facebook users have. A Facebook User Profile allows you access
to nearly all Facebook services. You can post pictures, give your friends
updates on your day, create notes to store your thoughts, share interesting
and amusing links, and use literally thousands of apps! Interactions take
place on your Wall, where all your friends can see whatever it is you feel
like sharing, whether it be pictures, links, or apps. Your friends can then
comment on what you’ve posted and you can do the same, by visiting their
User Profile.

Facebook guides you through the process of creating a User
Profile. It asks relatively simple questions about your background, such as
the type of education you have received or your current hometown. Once
you’ve provided Facebook the necessary information, you’re free to interact
with friends who already have a Facebook account, invite friends who don't
have a Facebook account to join you, or go on to find new friends on
Facebook. This is the major feature that sets a User Profile apart from a
Fan Page. With a Facebook User Profile, you can directly ask someone to be
your friend on Facebook.

The Fan Page has no such feature. It is designed to promote an
organization or business, rather than representing a single business. Let's
find out more.

With a Fan Page, you interact with the Facebook community
through members known as Fans. Fans are Facebook members, with regular User
Profiles who have made the move to “Like” your Fan Page. By clicking the
“Like” icon on your Fan Page, a Facebook User Profile will then receive
updates and notifications whenever you decide to update your Fan Page. Your
Fans can interact with you by posting on your Fan Page Wall in response to
your comments or they may leave comments of their own. If your Fans feel
your Fan Page is useful, valuable, and engaging, they may suggest your Fan
Page to their friends, which will grow your Fan base. However, with a Fan
Page you can’t actively request people to become your Fan. User Profiles
can request Friends, a Fan Page cannot request Fans. The reasoning behind
this is to leave it up to potential fans to decide on their own whether or
not to become a fan of a particular page, without solicitation from the Fan
Page in question.

So why use a Fan Page? Here are just a few reasons: