Do you know the difference between a Facebook Page and a Group?

If you're on Facebook (and let's face it, who's not these days?) you're probably "friends" with at least one business. But how do you befriend a business? On Facebook anyway, you don't, or shouldn't, but many businesses are so eager to have a presence that they don't take the time to research or understand how to go about it correctly.

Below is a link to an informative article which discusses the difference between Groups and Pages from a marketing perspective, but I've seen way too many businesses who are not yet ready for that conversation because they're still using Profiles to represent themselves on Facebook.

http://www.insidefacebook.com/2009/06/08/4-reasons-why-marketers-should-choose-facebook-pages-over-facebook-groups/

So to supplement the article, I'd like to provide a brief Facebook 101 lesson on the differences between the various Facebook entities: Profiles, Groups and Pages. I'm sure there will be more lessons to come, and I'll do my best to post/comment on them as I see the need.

Profiles - Profiles are intended for personal use only. Per Facebook: Profiles can only be used to represent an individual and must be held under an individual name. Profiles have "friends."

Groups - Think of Groups like fan clubs. They are "unofficial" in that they can be created by anyone for anything. For example, someone may love a team, tv show, restaurant, product or other entity and they can create a Group for people who like the same thing. Groups are not necessarily endorsed by the represented company, and in many instances there is no affiliation with the company at all. Groups have "members."

Pages - Pages are reserved for the "official" presence of a business or entity on Facebook, and can only be created by an authorized representative of the business for which the Page is for. They are intended to help an entity communicate publicly. Pages have "fans."