Yesterday Facebook rolled out a brand new feature that allows people to not only “friend” each other, but now “subscribe” – – making a personal profile more like a fan page. For example – let’s say I want to know what is going on with Mark Zuckerberg, but I am not “friends” with him. If he sets up his profile so I can “subscribe” to his page, I will get his updates in my newsfeed.
3 main functions of new subscribe button:
1. Subscribe to interesting people who you aren’t friends with.
2. Allow people to subscribe to you (you get notified who does, by the way, and you can control what they can comment on and “like”).
3. Control how much information you see from those you subscribe to. When you subscribe to a person, you immediately select if you want to see “All Updates,” “Most Updates,” or “Only Important.”
I think this will bode interesting for government officials and I wonder if it will change what and how they share…
Your thoughts? More info here if you are interested…
I stumbled on this change last week in a workshop. Makes sense as there are a lot of folks with whom I might not be friends, but that I want to essentially “follow.”
I definitely think the “subscribe” button is an interesting idea. However, I do not know how often I would use it. I usually like to keep Facebook to just personal use (with people I actually know), and use Twitter to follow government agencies, celebrities, and such.
Hmm, is this creating a new subclass in the social media world – the subscribers . . .
Can I downgrade people from friends to subscribers or upgrade my subscribers to friends?
If someone makes a friend request, can I instead let them subscribe? Is that going to be the new social snub?
All joking aside, as far as elected officials, many may be set up as pages, and this would not apply. For those elected officials with profiles, subscribing may make the lawyers happy because it is a neutral word, unlike “friend” or “fan” or “like”. So in that sense, it may allow some politicians to get on board and participate who have been held back by lawyers nervous about the language of Facebook.
wow.. MZ.. a “follow” feature..very innovative and original… I’m sure it will change the face of the social internet in ways never actualized before.. all hail Facebook! 😉