The day has arrived! Timeline profiles for brand and business pages on Facebook are finally here. Everyone is jumping on board to get the new format from members of congress, to large companies, and even small ones like the American Museum of Natural History. Over the past few days there has been a lot of conversation about what this means for brands using the new format and all the benefits it provides.
The new profiles may have the appeal of being attractive and more modern, but they also have another feature that companies should keep in mind; possible creep factor. That personalization that brands fight so hard to achieve might be a turn-off for potential followers with the way it is currently configured.
Let's dive deeper
Open another screen, or tab, and go to the Facebook brand page for Ford Mustang (https://www.facebook.com/fordmustang). Look past their wonderfully executed background and start to scroll down the page. In the right column, you will notice an area that shows you how many of your friends already like the page. Below that, you'll see a block that may contain any status updates or comments your friends have made that Facebook has deemed relevant to display on Ford Mustang's page.
At the time of writing, I see a comment from a friend that says:
About to drive our red Mustang convertible over the Golden Gate Bridge Bob Saget style !!
He has his friend, a person I don't know, tagged on the comment so I see her name as well and a hyperlink to take a look at her profile. The date of his update is Feburary 3rd, which makes this a timely, positive, and relevant display. Not too bad. However, when I visit the brand page for American Express it's a different story. On their page I see a comment from a friend that is dated December 26, 2011. It reads:
So i go to get a drink....liqour store is closed...thats cool ill just go to the convient store...dont take american express!!! Im legal....and cant get a damn drink!!
Not quite as timely, or positive, or relevant. I'd guess that neither my friend, nor AMEX, want her rant about being unable to accquire booze to appear on their brand page. If she wanted her statement to be associated with the brand, she would have made that comment directly to the company. Yet, she didn't. American Express was not tagged in her post.
What do Facebook Timeline brand pages mean for users
At the moment, it looks like Facebook is likely crawling users status updates, checkins, and comments history. They seem to then be matching words in that data with keywords selected for specific brand pages. If they find a match, they might show your comment, checkin, or update with your friends when they visit that companies page.
In most of the instances I have found, the comments are at least a few months old. The oldest I've seen is a friend who appeared on the page for American Museum of Natural History because she checked in sometime in December 2010. On the same page I also later saw a comment from a friends husband, who I am not connected to, because he tagged her when they visited the museum together.
Essentially, the words you choose (regardless of tags) and places you check-in at on Facebook could result in your old comments being posted on a brands page.
What do Facebook Timeline brand pages mean for business
Currently it means visitors could be seeing awkward messages, that you didn't approve, on your brand page because their friends said them at some point in a given time. These could be things that are negative, or that you just simply don't want being related to your brand.
Based on a subset of keywords, Facebook is letting consumers data give your page a voice. That's great if everyone always loves you, but if you've angered anyone in the past few years (and what business hasn't) then it could a less than optimal experience. For many businesses, this could be a liabilty.
I'm a strong believer that communities and followers, not businesses, own most brands. However, brands still need to have an ear in what their customers are saying. While adding the comments of a users friend to a brand page can allow for extreme personalization, it takes the ability to know what messages are being currated on your page away from the company. That is where I think the problem lies for businesses with this issue.
As most things go, I am sure there is more to this story and will follow up with updates. Until then, check out the slideshow of images where I've captured some of the worst and most irrelevant offenders I've seen on brand pages thus far.
How would you feel about a random comment you made which contained a brands name being displayed on their Facebook page for your friends?
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