Why I Will Ditch Google Reader And Use The New Facebook Pages
A few days ago, Facebook launched a new redesign of the entire Pages concept. If you are the administrator of a Facebook Page, you can check it out here. One of the main factors I like about the redesign is that you have the ability to log on as your Page and communicate with other Pages and people. Logging in as a Page essential gives you the same benefits as being an individual (with some things excluded like liking people).
One thing I didn’t really previously like about Facebook was that by liking hundreds of Pages on your account, your News Feed became flooded with links, and you didn’t really get to read what your friends were up to. Now that you can log in as a Page, you can like all these Pages, and your Page will have its own News Feed.
In the image above, I am logged in with my sites Facebook Fan Page. I have liked a number of pages, and when they post updates, it appears in my News Feed, and my friends status updates are completely separate. I can now also comment, interact with other people, and keep my personal Facebook account completely separate to my online one.
So what does all this mean?
Well, those who use Google Reader will find that they spend half their morning (or night) just reading through a whole heap of feeds they have subscribed too, and it doesn’t provide much interactivity with others on the internet. By using my Facebook Page, I can subscribe to the pages I am interested, and the news everyone is talking about will appear in front of me which allows me to join in on that discussion – something that Google Reader lacks. And the other good thing, some Pages only publish content items that are popular, and if they are even more popular, they will be promote in your “Top News” sections in your Pages News Feed. This means I will have more news that interests me, and I save time reading hundreds of posts through Google Reader. Just have a look at my reading stats, and how much I read!
That’s quite a bit of reading!
In Summary (By Using Facebook Pages)
- I can keep my online (website) life and my personal life separate
- My friends updates, and page updates are completely separate
- I can keep my Facebook News Feed clean and organised with only the items that I want
- I can interact with other Facebook users and promote my site at the same time by posting as my Page
- I only read the popular and top news items because Facebook only shows me what to read which means I save a heap of time
So will you be setting up your own public (personal) Facebook page so you can do the same – keep your public and private Facebook accounts separate?
Also, if you are not following me on Facebook, I encourage you to do so – whether it’s your personal account, or the new Facebook Page you just created.
Hey Jack, just wondering what are your thoughts on visitor/lead leakage from your fanpage when you have too many other pages’ content showing up on your page?
Will your fans see the same posts on your wall that you see (i.e. posts by your likes)?
Will your fans have your likes messages (i.e. “Jackcola.com likes xyz page” show up on their wall?
Cheers
Roland
Hi Roland,
I think by liking other pages on commenting on them, you will gain more readers then lose.
Everytime you comment on other page, your fan’s will see it (when they view your wall), but it won’t appear in their newsfeed – only the updates you make on your page will appear in their newsfeed.
So I personally think if you comment on other pages, you get more exposure, thus more people will like your page. If they like your liked page, they will still get your updates as well (unless they block you or unlike you) – but I don’t think many people will do that.
No, if you like a page, what I have seen so far, it won’t come up on your fan’s newsfeed when you like a page.
I hope this helps you a bit.