Why don’t all my Facebook Fans get my newsfeed?
You can be proud that you have a couple of hundred fans on your Facebook page, but are they quality fans? What’s the difference really? Well, the difference is something called Edge rank. Edge rank is an algorithm that Facebook uses that determines what shows up on the newsfeed, and that includes the posts and other information from your pages.
We can all understand why everything that everyone posts on Facebook can’t possibly make it to our newsfeed, but how does Facebook go about determining what actually does show up on your feed?
EdgeRank formula
Looks complicated? Well, let’s go through it:
μe – the affinity score. How often you interact with a particular Facebook friend raises your affinity with that friend.
we – the edge weight. What interaction is going on? more weight is given to a comment than a like, for example.
de – the time delay. How long has the information been up. The longer, the less it’s worth.
So what does this all mean? Well, when all these factors are multiplied together, a high number means your object (picture, comment, tag, etc.) is more likely to show up on your Facebook friends’ newsfeed.
Taking this all into consideration, and making it simple; the people that interact with you, and you with them, are more likely to get your fresh objects in their newsfeed.
See the f8 video from April 21, 2011
Why Your Business Shouldn’t Have A Facebook Profile
One of the most common mistakes that businesses make when starting out in Social Media is creating a Facebook Profile instead of a Facebook Page to represent their business.
Facebook Pages are for businesses. Facebook Profiles are for people.
Using a Facebook Profile for your business is against Facebook’s Terms of Use http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=12814 Facebook has the right to erase the profile and all your connections with it. Granted, it’s rare but it does happen. Are you willing to take that chance?
Because Pages are for businesses and Profiles are for people it may reflect badly on your business for using a Profile. Your business may seem incompetent or uninformed.
Perks to Facebook Pages
- You can only have 5000 friends on a profile but Facebook Page connections (Likes) are unlimited.
- Facebook Pages are highly customizable for branding and promotions but Facebook Profiles are not.
- You can add Facebook Ad campaigns to promote your Page but profiles do not have this option.
- Facebook Pages are indexed by Google which means keywords used in your business description and bio can be found by Google Search.
- Facebook Pages allow you to create customized landing pages for non-members which are great for branding as well as newsletter signup forms.
- Pages have an “Insights” feature. With this Facebook analytics type tool you can monitor your members activities which gives businesses great feedback on how their Facebook Page is performing.
Did you make the mistake of setting up a Profile instead of a Page?
Not all is lost!! Facebook allows you to convert your Profile to a Page. All your Friends will change to Page Likes and all your pictures will be transferred but that’s it! you will lose all other content so it’s a good idea to save that content somewhere else so you can add it to your Page after conversion. Also note that this does not work vice versa, Pages cannot be converted to Profiles.
Please leave any questions or comments below – we’re here to help!
The End of FBML
The end of FBML: Tomorrow marks the end of an era for Facebook:
Starting Friday, March 18th, you will no longer be able to create new FBML apps and Pages will no longer be able to add the Static FBML app. While all existing apps on Pages using FBML or the Static FBML app will continue to work, we strongly recommend that these apps transition to iframes as soon as possible. Lastly, we want to be clear that our deprecation of FBML does not impact XFBML, such as the tags that support social plugins.
Platform Updates: Operation Developer Love By Nikolay Valtchanov – Friday at 9:40pm http://developers.facebook.com/blog/
So what does this mean? Basically, from tomorrow on, you have to make any Facebook pages and apps in iframes. So if you’re not handy in iframes, you’ll have to learn them–or hire us to do them for you 
.
When it comes to Facebook pages, an iframe works like a window within a Facebook page that shows content from outside Facebook. So If I have an HTML page stored on my server, I can point to it in Facebook and show it on my page. Basically, it’s that simple. If you check out ADC Online’s Facebook page you’ll see that we’ve taken it one step further and actually pointed our Facebook page to a specially modified WordPress website. Handy for clients versed in WordPress, so they can keep their own Facebook page fresh with new content.
As for FBML? Well, no one is saying exactly when Facebook is going to stop supporting pages and apps currently running FBML, they’re just saying on March 18th no new apps or pages will be made with it. The complete depreciation of FBML may not take place for years, but as far as I can tell, no one is saying for sure.
Solving Facebook Page Redirect
In developing our new Facebook page I’ve come across a few, well, challenges. One such challenge was getting the iframes app in Facebook to launch an HTML file on my server.
I use web space on a Linux server running Apache and MySQL. I’m not sure about how Facebook interacts with this server, but I wasn’t able to get the Facebook app to work directly with HTML. I got this error:
Method Not Allowed
The requested method POST is not allowed for the URL / (insert path here)
Apache/ 1.3.33 Server at adconline.ca Port 80
I just completed a course on Facebook pages, and this issue was never mentioned, so I thought I made an error in the Facebook integration tab. I’ve researched this problem and came up dry. I still don’t know why I can’t point directly to an HTML file.
Although I don’t know why, I do know how to bypass the problem: have the Facebook app point to a .php file instead of an HTML. I’m making the Facebook page redirect from a .php file to a .html file. The .php file is just a simple redirect that points to the intended HTML file.
.php redirect:
<?php
header( ‘Location: http://(insert path to HTML file here)/’ ) ;
?>
Simple fix:
1. Copy and paste the code in WordPad.
2. Change the (insert path to HTML file here) to the path to your HTML file.
3. Save it with the extension .php.
4. Upload it to your server.
5. Have the Facebook app point to it. Don’t forget to include the .php extension on your file name.
This should solve any problems you have directing the app to your desired HTML file. If you know why the Facebook app won’t link directly to an HTML file, I’d love to read your comments!
Difference Between Facebook Profiles and Pages
Profiles are different then Pages and Groups. Profiles are for personal use and/or networking (catching up with old friends, person to person business networking). Think of it this way, your profile represents yourself and your Page represents your business.
When you signed up for Facebook you opened a Facebook account and on your account you have a ‘product’ called a profile, now you want to add another ‘product’ called a Page to your account as well.
The easiest way to go about this is to sign in to the Facebook account you already opened and add a Facebook Page. There would be no visible public connection between your profile and your Facebook Page. Anything that is posted to the Page will appear as coming from the page. Like 2 separate identities.
For Example…
Your signed into Facebook account and you check your ‘Profile’ and discover that it’s your friends birthday. When you post on their wall it will appear to be coming from Jane Doe but when you click the link on your account to check your ‘ACME Bombs’ business Page, you discover that Willie Coyote has posted to your page wall. When you respond it would appear as though you are ‘ACME Bombs’ NOT Jane Doe.
I have created multiple Pages through my account for clients which I monitor and post information to and no one knows who I am 
Confused yet?? Clear as mud? Post your questions below and I’ll do my best to answer them!
Do you need a Facebook Page or a Facebook Group?
All too often when discussing Social Media I find myself cringing as I hear businesses say “Yes, we have a Facebook Group” and then I have the not so pleasant task of explaining that they chose the wrong path.
The basic difference between Pages and Groups is as follows¦
Facebook Pages represent organizations, businesses/products, celebrities, politicians or musicians (for example: Official Cheerios Page). Pages should only be created by an official representative of the organization or person in which the Page is promoting. A Facebook Page is considered its own identity and the Page’s Administrator remains anonymous, anything posted by the Adminstrator on a Page will appear to have come from the Page. You do not have to have a personal profile on Facebook to create a Page.
Facebook Groups can be created by anyone and about anything (for example: We Love Cheerios Group). When a Group is created it’s considered something like an extension of one’s personal profile so administrators are identified by their name and anything that is posted by the Group Admins will be credited to the individual. You need to have a profile on Facebook to create a Group.
Here is a list of some detailed differences
Searchable by Google?
Facebook Pages are indexed by Google which means people will be able to find a Facebook Page by searching the Page name in a Google search. Facebook Groups are not indexed so they can’t be found through Google or any other search engine; they can only be found by using the search in Facebook.
Customization/Apps
Facebook Pages allow you to create customized landing tabs for non-members which are great for branding as well as newsletter signup forms. Facebook Pages with customized landing tabs have a 70% greater chance of being ‘Liked’ then Facebook Pages without a custom landing tab. Unfortunately, Facebook Groups do not have this option.
Sending Messages to Members
Facebook Groups allow you send messages directly into Group member’s inboxes as where Facebook Pages do not. The crappy thing about Pages is that their messages get sent out as ‘Updates’ which sometimes get lost in the shuffle. Once a Group grows to 5000 members it loses the ability to direct message.
Events
Similar to Messages, Events created by Facebook Page administrators cannot be sent directly to member’s inboxes. Instead, they are sent out by way of Page updates.
In contrast, Facebook groups can send event invites to their members. As is the case with mass messages, Facebook group admins are restricted from sending event invites directly to members once the group has over 5,000 members.
The best way to ensure your members are aware of the event is by using Facebook Ads.
Promotion
Both Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups can be promoted through Facebook Ads.
Analytics
One of the key differences between Pages and Groups is the Pages ‘Insights’ feature. With this Facebook analytics type tool you can monitor member’s activities which gives businesses great feedback on how their Facebook Page is performing.
