Facebook Knows All, Sees All, Confuses All

By An Anonymous Person in the Facebook Protection Program

For the most part, trying to figure out Facebook is an exercise in futility. About the time you think you've uncovered all of Facebook’s secrets, the Dark Lord changes everything. Very frustrating.

I’m sure we’ve all seen “the rules” about what not to post:

What you post	What people read
I’ll be away on vacation for a week starting Friday.	Here’s your chance, burglars!
Religious screed	Hey, gang! Let’s argue about whose religious beliefs are correct.
Political diatribe	I’m a dangerous radical, heartless philistine, or hopeless nincompoop.
Rumors and “warnings” found on the internet	I’m gullible.
Copyrighted images, etc.	Sue me for everything I own. I’ve always wanted to live in cardboard box under an overpass.
Unkind things about other people	You’re next, bucko.
What you ate for breakfast	I’m the life of the party in the real world, too.
Drive-by “buy my book” messages (including up-to-the-minute news about Amazon sales rank and reviews)	Like the bandana and six-gun? I’ve always been a snappy dresser. Now hand over your money or the Kindle gets it.

Honestly, the one rule everyone should remember about all social media is very simple: If you wouldn’t do something in a roomful of strangers in the real world, don’t do it on social media either.

There’s another reason for approaching Facebook with a modicum of caution: According to the Dark Lord’s terms of service, everything you post on Facebook belongs to Facebook. Forever. Post something you regret, and you can’t take it back, even if you delete the post from your timeline. Get used to that blush setting fire to your cheeks, because you’ll be wearing it for the rest of your life.

Far more difficult than determining what not to do on Facebook is figuring out what to do. Take your Facebook presence, for example. If you’re an author, should you start a Facebook Page or stick with a personal timeline? Or do you need both? And for the love of Cheez Whiz, what the heck is a group?

First, some definitions:

A timeline or newsfeed is a personal presence. This is how most of us are accustomed to interacting with other Facebook users. When we post jokes, memes, quotes, links, random cat pictures, etc., we’re posting to our personal timeline. We “friend” people using our timeline, and they friend us back using theirs (or not, if we’re in the habit of relentlessly promoting our books or revealing what we ate for breakfast).

A Page is a commercial presence. Businesses and celebrities establish Pages because Pages allow a few things timelines don’t. Page administrators can post polls, run contests, offer freebies, share event schedules, and track who’s viewing and interacting with what. Page owners also can compare their Page’s statistics (views, interaction, etc.) to those of other, similar Pages.

A group is essentially an online club. Facebook groups bring like-minded people together about almost every topic under the sun (some of which you do not want to know about, trust me). Some groups allow anyone to join; some require membership approval. The Prairie Rose Publications group, for example, is an “open” group. Anyone can obtain access to the loony bin simply by clicking the “Join” button. Jacquie Rogers’ Pickle Barrel Bar & Books, on the other hand, is a “closed” group. Jacquie or one of her minions must approve anyone who clicks the “Join” button before that person is allowed to dance on the bar with the rest of the Wild Bunch. All posts in a group are delivered to every member, unless a member elects not to receive them.

Back to the question about authors, Pages, and timelines.

I’m not a proponent of authors establishing Facebook Pages. That doesn’t mean I’m dead-set against author Pages — just that I believe authors should think long and hard before diving in.

Why? For one thing — and this is especially true for debut authors — Pages are effective only when their owners post fun things that aren’t overtly promotional, and then spend a significant amount of time interacting about the posts with followers. An inactive Page is much, much worse than no Page at all. Inactive author Pages look like just another billboard for a starving writer. How much attention do you pay to billboards, online ads, and TV commercials? If your answer is “not much,” you’re safe in assuming you’re among the majority. Even worse, Pages with lots of posts but no interaction from fans make an author look either dreadfully dull or desperate to sell books no one wants to read.

That leads to the second point: People can’t “friend” a Page like they do a timeline. Instead, they must become fans or followers by “liking” the Page. There are quite a few negatives attendant upon that system, some of them psychological, but the biggest drawback is this: Facebook’s algorithm displays Page posts much less frequently and to a smaller audience than posts on personal timelines. Every post on your timeline can be seen by all of your Facebook friends. Posts on a Page will be seen by only a small percentage of fans and followers unless the Page’s administrator pays Facebook to show the posts to more people. That’s part of the way Facebook funds its existence.

An exception to the “pay Facebook” model happens when Pages produce content so compelling that people from all over the place find the content by themselves, “like” it, comment on it, or share it. If the material gets lots of attention, Facebook will make sure more people see it for free. So-called “viral” content has intrinsic value for Facebook, so of course the Dark Lord wants to increase the “reach” of the Page that generated all the chatter.

Pages belonging to well-known, bestselling authors typically get great reach on Facebook for free, but those Pages have tens of thousands of fans and followers who would share the author’s every word even if he or she wasn’t on Facebook. The ironic thing there is, bestselling authors and other celebrities generally pay someone to manage their Facebook presence for them, so their fans and followers aren’t interacting with the big shot anyway.

You’ve probably seen folks post things like “Like and share if you know the answer” or “Hit like if you love puppies” to both Pages and timelines. That’s called “like baiting,” and it’s considered spam. Although like baiting does increase interaction with a post, thereby potentially expanding its reach, Facebook is cracking down on the practice by shutting the accounts of people and companies who do it (unless they pay Facebook for the privilege).

The other thing that makes Pages a less-than-optimal promotional channel for individuals is this: They’re a pain in the patootie to generate fans and followers for. You’ve probably seen authors post “Please like my Page!” all over the place. Maybe one or two percent of the people who see those messages actually go like the Page, and those who do usually are other authors who want a Page like in return. Ideally, an author Page should attract readers. Authors read, too (or should), but the round-robin approach to marketing probably isn’t the best use of time and energy.

There is one advantage to maintaining a Page that individuals may want to consider: Facebook caps timeline friends at 5,000. Once you reach 5,000 friends, you’ll have to start a Page (for which fans and followers are unlimited) or begin deleting less-active friends so you can add new ones. My advice? Cross that bridge if you can’t swim, but try treading water first.

Prairie Rose Publications maintains a Facebook Page as well as a group. We’re working to build the audience for both. Everyone is invited — in fact, encouraged — to join the group, like the Page, and start or participate in conversations in either or both places. (Those who are published by Prairie Rose, don’t make us round you up. Nobody wants to see you dragged to the corral by your boot heels.) By the end of the year, PRP hopes to be running frequent, legitimate contests and other fun stuff both in the group and on the Page.

Bottom line, at least in my opinion: Individuals, especially authors who are just starting to build an audience for their work, would do better to stick with a personal timeline and join groups than put time and effort into a Page. People who use Facebook want real interaction with real people. They’re much more likely to friend a real person than they are to like a Page. The personal approach — making Facebook friends feel wanted and appreciated as people, not dollar signs — is much more effective than any advertising you can buy.

Authors: Can you offer any Facebook tips or tricks?

Readers: What do you like and dislike about Facebook?