Difference between Facebook Page and Facebook Profile

Sunday, May 22nd, 2011

Every business needs a social profile on the internet and facebook is at the time of writing one of the important ones. So before you nip off to facebook and do it the wrong way, then just take a few minutes to learn about the differences or you may find your business gets booted from facebook and all the hard work is lost.

Since the beginning of facebook, every person on the planet has been able to create their own facebook “personal profile” which allows them to tell the world a little about themselves, upload some photos and connect with other friends. A facebook profile represents an individual.

Years ago, facebook also allowed the creation of “fan pages”, renamed in 2009 to “facebook pages”.

Facebook pages allows a facebook user (someone who has an existing “facebook profile”) to create and manage pages for businesses, charities organisations, bands, celebrities etc.

Facebook pages do not actually need a username and password to access them, your personal profile is linked to the facebook page and you can access the editing features of the facebook page from your personal profile.

So, before you can create and manage a “facebook page” for your business you MUST have a “facebook profile”, if you create a personal profile for your business, this is against the facebook TOS and you may find your business profile deleted without warning.

To clarify the main difference between facebook pages and facebook profiles

Facebook profiles represent an individual not a business
You must have a personal profile before you can create or manage a business page
If you create a personal profile and name it as your business, then this is not permitted
Facebook book pages are edited from your personal profile

Here are some useful direct links to facebook information on facebook pages and profiles

Click here to create a personal profile
Click here to create a business page (you need to have a personal profile)
Click here for pages FAQ