On pretty much every type of social media account nowadays, people have the ability to make a connection with you if they want to be associated with you. On each different platform, that connection can mean different things. This week, I want to focus on what these connections mean on Facebook.

Much like in real life, social media encourages us to cultivate virtual relationships with each other. And just like in real life, those relationships have varying degrees of intimacy. In life, we have relatives, friends, and acquaintances. On Facebook, we have followers, fans, and friends.

• On Facebook, if you have a personal profile, then you accumulate "friends". Being Facebook friends is a two way street…it takes two to tango on Facebook. As we all know, when you send a friend request on Facebook, unless that person accepts your request, you aren’t allowed to be their friend. This means that you can only see just a little bit of their information on their Facebook profile. Then, once they’ve accepted your friend request, you both become friends of each other.
• On a public Facebook business page (not a personal profile) the people who like your page are "fans". A Facebook Business page is a page created by someone who’s already a Facebook member but wants to promote their business, an organization, a hobby, or some other interest. Facebook Business pages are visible to the public by default. The fans of your business page are people that have clicked "like" in order to receive the content that you broadcast on your page.
• People on Facebook can also be "followers". If someone on Facebook is a only follower, that means he or she is following what you have to say and receiving the content that you broadcast, but they have not officially clicked "like" on your page. On a personal profile, you can actually be friends with someone but not actually follow that person. You have the option to unfollow someone if you don't wish to see what he or she is posting all the time, but you still remain friends on a personal profile. You can still go look at their profile, if you want to. It’s similar with a business page. You can follow a business page without actually "liking" the page. This is something you may choose to do if you want to stay up on what's happening on that page, but you don't want anyone to actually know that you’re a fan of that page. Often, people do this if they want to spy on a competitor or if they want to follow a page that they don't want others to know about.

It Pays to Be Popular.

The amount of fans that you have is the number of people who have liked your page. With that gesture, your fans are pretty much telling others, “Hey! I like this business, and I want to give a shout out to say that this is something worth checking out.” The more Facebook fans you have, the more people who are considering becoming fans or followers can trust you. Although having a large number of fans doesn't necessarily mean they will see your content, it is still a positive number to grow for your business.

You are capable of more than you know.

Glinda, the Good Witch