99 Responses to “Understanding Facebook Accounts”

1. Charlene Kingston says:

   September 10, 2011 at 8:01 am

   Hi Julie. I can only answer part of your question. It does make sense to me, and I see what you are trying to accomplish. I can only answer part of it because I’ve not done what you are suggesting. Facebook doesn’t give us a sandbox to play in, we have to be creating real pages for real businesses to figure things out.

   My simple understanding is that when you start to create a business account, it ends with creating a business page. A new business page.

   It sounds like her employee started down the right path, but from what you describe, clicked the option to convert to a personal account. That action can’t be undone. You can’t convert a personal account back to a business account. Facebook isn’t really in the business page business, they are really in the personal profile business, so it makes sense that they make it super easy to get their desired result, and darn near impossible to undo it.

   Now that her entrance account has been converted to a personal account, it is what it is.

   What I recommend is that she doesn’t use the business/personal account for updating her page. Instead, have the employees who maintain the business page access Facebook through their personal account. She can make them an admin and they don’t have to use her account for access.

   I just don’t know if Facebook will let you start out creating a new business account and attach an existing business page to that new account. And I don’t know if placing a Facebook ad and starting a new business account that way will let you attach to an existing business page. Both options are interesting, and are worth trying. If you can manage to talk to a Facebook account manager, he or she should be able to tell you right away if you can accomplish what you want through that strategy.

   If you try it and it works, please do report back here. That would be an amazing way to fix a lot of people’s problems with their Facebook accounts. Good luck!
2. Rod says:

   October 25, 2011 at 2:20 pm

   Charlene:

   Hopefully my question is easy for you to answer, because some of the comments left about policy and deletions are quite scary when you are new to FB.

   When I created my Facebook account profile, I was unsure how to set it up so I set it up in my business name because I didn’t have or really want a personal account and then set up a business page off of the profile to showcase my work, comments etc. and have simply been asking my colleagues and friends to view my business page. However, it is confusing for them when they login to my profile and they think it is the business page. At this point, I don’t know what I should be doing or if I’m doing something wrong. I have about 80 or so people who like my business page and 789 friends or so on the Facebook profile. Please help me figure out if I am doing something wrong, or if it is just this confusing. Thank you.
3. Charlene Kingston says:

   October 28, 2011 at 11:46 am

   I’m not sure from your question exactly what is going on. It seems that you do have both a business page with people who like it, and personal profile with friends. Is the problem that your personal profile has a business name instead of your personal name?
4. kim says:

   November 5, 2011 at 6:58 pm

   If you had a personal facebook account in the past but have closed it out for awhile, can you open a new one as a business account only? Thanks!
5. Charlene Kingston says:

   November 6, 2011 at 12:49 am

   Are you planning to use the same email address to open the business account? If so, it depends on if your personal profile is really deleted or just archived (in limbo). It’s actually hard to delete a Facebook profile! They keep it out there in limbo hoping that you will come back in the future. So it depends on if you are using the same email address and if your account is really deleted.

   The only way to find out is to try it! Good luck!!
6. Olga says:

   November 27, 2011 at 9:49 am

   Dear Charlene

   Thank you very much for this article!
   I have a question though. As far as I understood, one can create a fully functional Facebook Page only having a Facebook Profile first. I want to create a Facebook Business Page for my company, but I don’t want to do that from my own personal Profile.The reason: I will be not the only person who will administer the Business Page, and since not all of the co-admins have their own Facebook Profile, I will have to give them my personal Login and Password. And I obviously don’t want to do this.
   I have already created a second Facebook Profile, from which I can administer the company’s Facebook Page. But now I’m afraid Facebook might delete both of my personal profiles. What can I do in this case?

   I look forward to your answer!
7. Charlene Kingston says:

   November 27, 2011 at 11:45 am

   Hello, Olga.

   You can create a fully functional business page with or without a personal profile. I can’t quite tell from your question what you have done. I don’t understand why you have created two personal profiles. If both profiles are for you, you are in violation of the terms of service. If one profile is really for your business, you are in violation of the terms of service. Delete the duplicate personal profile, that’s not the way to go.

   You can create a business page by creating a business account (use a business email) and only setting up the business page. Then you can give people the business account login and password and they can only touch the business page. But you must only create a business page, and not convert the business account into a personal account by converting it. Facebook will invite you to do this. Don’t do it.

   Good luck!
8. Jeff Kildahl says:

   November 30, 2011 at 11:28 am

   Charlene~

   I created a personal Facebook account a couple of years ago. I would really like to focus my attention solely on a business account.

   Is it possible or advisable to ditch the personal account and devote full attention to the newly created business page? I am willing to sacrifice all friends and pages acquired during the tenure of said personal account – if necessary.

   Thank you!

   ~jsk CWC, ND. PhD
   Jeff Kildahl recently posted “Nutrify to Thrive.”
9. Charlene Kingston says:

   November 30, 2011 at 3:03 pm

   Hi Jeff.

   You can certainly use Facebook any way you like. I am very active on my personal profile, and like the fact that I have a way to keep in touch with people personally. You lose a lot of interaction on Facebook as a business. For example, if I only had my business page, I couldn’t post things on my friend’s wall to have any sort of conversation. Because you asked, I’ll offer this bit of advice: I’d recommend that you keep your personal profile, even if you semi-abandon it. You have relationships with people there that might be valuable in the future (and might be difficult to recreate).

   With a business page, you are like a person running a booth at a trade show. You are stuck behind the table. You can’t grab people in the aisle and start talking with them. They have to start the conversation, and they remain in control of it. They can engage you, but you are limited in how you can engage them back. For example, while you can see the list of who likes your business, you never get any of their contact information or have any way to reach them directly.

   Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I have 2 business pages on Facebook and consider it an important part of my online presence. It just doesn’t work like a personal profile. For me, Facebook works like having office hours in a local coffee shop. I’m there to have conversations with everyone who stops by, but my main work goes on at my site. My main way to engage people around my business stems from my website/blog/newsletter. These are all platforms I own (not free accounts) and where people who like me give me permission to reach out to them.

   Most people find that the conversation levels on Facebook are quite low until you reach about 500 likes, and for some businesses, 1000 likes. That’s what people tell me who have grown to those levels. I’m still below 500 on my own business page, and the conversation levels are low. It takes time to build a Facebook following of engaged people. If you have a large community on your website/blog that you can direct to your Facebook page, you might reach higher conversation levels fast.

   Does this answer your questions?
10. kendra says:

    December 1, 2011 at 7:29 pm

    ok i have a personal fb page and i was tryin to make a business one and instead of creating a business page i actually made another account..ooopps ok and i they have the same email another opps so i cant long on to my personal fb page…..can i fix this please help
11. Charlene Kingston says:

    December 2, 2011 at 1:46 am

    Oh, Kendra, I wish I could help. I don’t know what advice to give you, other than to contact Facebook for account help. Here’s the login portion of their Help Center (https://www.facebook.com/help/?page=214512881928339).

    You are not the first person who has done this. Explain what happened and ask for their help.
12. Renée says:

    December 6, 2011 at 3:38 pm

    Hiya!
    Great article…think I should have read it before I embarked on my facebook adventure.

    In this order: I started a facebook profile for my little business, invited a bunch of friends to join as friends, then discovered I actually want a Page instead of a profile (so I could have fans -instead of friends, give updates, upload photos, link other business apps and social media to it and to not have everyone’s updates on it like a profile page does); put some work and effort into the page and now realize all of my friends aren’t seeing the updates and such form the Page because they are only seeing the profile.

    Okay, the question is…can I delete or hide the profile and just work from the Page? It seems like I’ll be doing the same work on two facebook presences if I don’t figure this out.
    Thanks!
13. Charlene Kingston says:

    December 6, 2011 at 4:10 pm

    Hi Renee,

    Yes, you can delete your business profile and keep your business page. But before you do this, you need to make sure you still have a way to access Facebook! Your wrong business profile is linked to your Facebook login. I’ve not done this, but I’m pretty sure that if you just delete your business profile, you will have no way to log in to Facebook and maintain your right business page.

    Do you have a real personal profile on Facebook? If so, you need to set yourself up as the administrator of your business page before you delete your wrong business profile. If you don’t have a personal profile and you don’t want one, you can’t delete your wrong business profile. But you can remove all of the postings you have made so it looks like a ghost town. Ugly, I know. I’d really recommend that you create a personal profile even if you don’t use it for personal chit chat. You need that account (login) to maintain your business page. The business page isn’t tied to any login. Instead, you maintain it by setting up someone with a personal profile to be the page administrator. You don’t have to actually use the personal profile to connect with people.

    As you mentioned, some people will find the wrong business profile and send you a friend request. When they do that, you can send them a reply that explains they need to like your business page instead.

    Make sure to plaster your business page link all over your website and blog so people can jump from your website/blog to the correct Facebook page for your business.

    Now, actually deleting your wrong business profile is a little confusing. Facebook actually makes it hard to delete an account. First, you have to deactivate the profile/account. (It gets reactivated if you ever log back in using that account.) Then, you can request to have your account deleted here (https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=224562897555674#How-do-I-permanently-delete-my-account?).

    You are not the only person in this situation. Here’s an article I wrote to help move people from a profile to a business page. (http://socialmediadiyworkshop.com/2009/12/changing-your-facebook-presence-to-a-fan-page/)

    Good luck!
14. Renée says:

    December 6, 2011 at 4:45 pm

    WOW! Thanks for the quick reply. I’ve been reading more posts since asking my question…you are VERY helpful.

    I do have a very active personal account and considered making my personal page the admin for the business page (and thus deleting the business profile, as you mentioned…phew! good thing I asked!) but I was quite concerned that the two would run together and cause confusion (mainly mine).

    I appreciate also what you have mentioned in other replies to not worry so much about getting my friends to ‘like’ my business page…I already feel like an idiot now for inviting them and then (potentially) dissolving the business profile. But, thankfully, I am just starting out and this probably won’t cause too much damage.

    Just tried to Go to an App using the ‘Use Facebook as [business page]‘ and was kindly given this error message: You are using Facebook as [my business page]
    To access this page, you’ll need to switch from using Facebook as your age to using Facebook as yourself.

    Which would mean the app links to my personal page (if I change the business page admin to my personal page) instead of the business page. Maybe this is just a little glitch with apps…?

    Regardless of further responses from you, I thank you for answering me and preventing me from making a huge mistake with the deletion/new admin thing.

    Cheerios!
15. Amy says:

    December 10, 2011 at 9:07 am

    Hi charlene
    This is good article who are expecting to start Facebook account efficiently. Facebook is one of large social media net work system. people must know how to use these social media without effort and use with strong protection. I wish you write more articles about Facebook.
    Amy recently posted “6 Reasons Why YOU Should do Article Marketing.”
16. Charlene Kingston says:

    December 10, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    Thanks, Amy. I write about Facebook a lot. In fact, the only topic I write about more is Twitter. There are some great resources who focus only on Facebook that you might enjoy. First, Mari Smith (http://www.marismith.com/) is a true Facebook guru. Then there is Andrea Vahl (and Grandma Mary) who recently wrote a Facebook book (https://www.andreavahl.com/blog). There is All Facebook (http://www.allfacebook.com/) written for regular users and Inside Facebook (http://www.insidefacebook.com/) written more for techies. Social Media Examiner (http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/) has articles on Facebook written by a variety of well-known bloggers (including me), and Mashable (http://mashable.com/category/facebook/) has articles about Facebook written mostly by their staff. I trust all of these sources, and know that you will find great information on each of them.
17. netta says:

    December 11, 2011 at 1:39 am

    hi Charlene
    I have a client who has a personal account with 1 friend (me;o) and the business account which we administrate together.
    Now the problem is she wants to delete her personal profile and work only with the business account. (she doesnt like facebook…!)
    Is this possible to do without hurting the business account and can she log in without problem after ?
18. Charlene Kingston says:

    December 11, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    Hi Netta. Your client cannot delete her personal profile without losing access to her business page. If she deletes her personal profile, she deletes her Facebook account. This means that she has no access to Facebook. Her business page, however, would remain on Facebook and you would have access to it.

    She has to decide between two choices: 1) She can keep her personal profile and use it to access her business page. 2) She can delete her business page and her personal profile (account) and start over. This time, she can create just a business account. However, her existing business name is already taken (by her) and she won’t be able to give a new business page the exact same name. Also, she would have to start over with people who like her page. There is no way to contact the people who currently like her business page to let them know to like the new business page.

    It’s a tough situation, and there are disadvantages to each option. Good luck helping her find the best solution for her situation!
19. Euodia says:

    December 26, 2011 at 10:39 am

    Hi Charlene,

    I don’t have a personal Facebook profile, but decided to create a Page for my freelance business instead (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Touchee-Feelee/256935391028242?sk=app_190322544333196).

    I’ve noticed that I cannot add an admin picture to my page, so when I comment on other pages, it just shows a Facebook avatar. I can also not ‘like’ any other pages or posts (so I just add them as page favorites).

    I want to create a personal Facebook profile to enable me to interact with other pages, but it says I’m already using the email address for my page.

    What should I do? Is there a way for me to comment and have my admin picture show on other pages?

    Thank you so much for the article and the time you put into answering all these questions.
    Euodia recently posted “Curling Frangipani.”
20. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 1, 2012 at 3:33 pm

    Thanks for you patience waiting for my reply.

    You have several layers of things I want to talk about. First, your business page can like another business page. You use the Like button. However, because you are a business and not a person on Facebook, you don’t get added to the Like count for that page. Facebook treats likes from a page different from likes from a profile. But every page your page likes now appears in your timeline, so you get the same interaction with other business pages. I have both a profile and a page, and my business page likes many business pages. My profile likes some business pages, and my business page likes some business pages, and they are not the same ones. In other words, as Charlene I like some business pages that are not the same as the business pages that Social Media DIY likes.

    You don’t need to create a profile to interact with business pages. You can do that from your page.

    If your business page comments on a status update, it shows your business page avatar. It shows your business interacting with the other business. If you want to change your business page avatar to be a picture of you, then your face shows up when your business comments on other business status updates. I do this. My business page avatar is a long rectangle, with my picture on the top and my logo below. When I comment as Social Media DIY on other business pages, it shows my face because that’s how I’ve set up my business page avatar.

    If you simply want your name associated with your business, add it into the description of your business. If you want your face included, change your avatar (like mine) so your face is part of your page avatar.

    Your business page will not have an administrator because you do not have a profile. That’s okay. I have a profile, and every time I post on my business page or comment on another business, I do it as my business, not as my personal profile. My page admin never posts on behalf of my business.

    Does that help?
21. Jen says:

    January 1, 2012 at 3:40 pm

    facebook.com/facepaintforsmiles

    I got the 25 like necessary for url registration but i still can’t find friends and businesses so my page can ‘like’ their page and spread my support. Is this not possible with business accounts? should i have just used a personal account?
22. Chris says:

    January 3, 2012 at 1:58 pm

    I currently don’t have a Facebook personal or business account, however I have 4 businesses that I would like to setup with a Facebook presence. Am i allowed to setup individual Facebook accounts for each of the individual businesses even though I will be the only person managing these accounts.
23. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 3, 2012 at 4:32 pm

    Here’s how to think about that, Chris. It’s not that you will have 4 accounts, it’s that 4 different businesses will each have an account. They must each have a unique email address to create the account.

    But I can see a lot of effort on your part if you use Facebook without a profile (personal account). You will have to log in and out of each business account to update the account. That’s a lot of logging in and out over the course of a single day!

    Here’s my recommendation. Create the accounts for each business. But then create a personal account, and make yourself the admin for the four business accounts. This way, you can log in using your personal account and switch back and forth between the business accounts with a single click inside Facebook. Even if you don’t want to reconnect with your old friends, that’s the advantage of having a personal profile when administering multiple business pages.

    Or, you could even do this: Just create a personal profile and then create a business page (without a business account) for each business. Having the business account gives your business permanent access to the business page. You can have employees admin the accounts using your business account, etc. But if you are only one person and you don’t see having employees, this would work for you. Businesses who have employees or hire someone to do their social media would get the most benefit from having a business account for each business page, in my opinion.

    Do come back and share your strategy so others can hear what you did and what you learned from doing it. We are all learning from each other.
24. Gabriele says:

    January 4, 2012 at 1:09 pm

    Hi Charlene,

    just one single question: is it possibile to convert, let’s say, 3 different personal accounts (all related to one real person) to one only page?

    I discovered the procedure by which you can migrate your contacts from you account to your newly created page.

    But, my question is: what if you have more personal accounts?

    Thank you for your attenzion and your answer, it’s really necessary for me,

    my regards,

    Gabriele
25. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 4, 2012 at 2:34 pm

    Hi Gabriele,

    I’m glad to hear that you are working on resolving your multiple accounts. That’s good. I’m not quite sure what you want to have in the end. Do you want to convert the three personal accounts (profiles) to create a single business page? Or a single personal profile?

    There are a few more options available for profiles than pages, but ultimately, it is going to be a very manual process.

    I’ve written about how to convert a personal profile to a business page. (http://socialmediadiyworkshop.com/2009/12/changing-your-facebook-presence-to-a-fan-page/) There is no automation, but I’ve explained the steps you need to use to get from where you are to where you want to be. You must complete this process three times to pull together three profiles.

    It’s a significant amount of effort, and you will lose friends/followers in the process. There’s no way to avoid that. But keep this in mind: if people do not respond to your request to move from one presence to another one, they are already tuned out and are dead weight in your friend list. It’s better to prune off the dead weight and start fresh with an active, engaged community, even though that community is smaller. You can always keep adding new people over time.

    Good luck and let me know how it works out. Others here will appreciate learning from your experience.
26. yoya says:

    January 9, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    What will be the best way to get an organization on facebook? A business account? A business page? A personal account? I have my own personal account and I do not wish it to be associated with the organization’s account, which I am working for.
    Should I start a new personal account for the organization I work for? Will that violate facebook guidelines because I have my own personal account? Should I click the “I have a facebook account” when asked?
    It makes sense that any organization should be able to have a separate account from the account of the person managing that organization’s account. But from what I read on facebook guidelines and on this thread, starting multiple accounts may be a violation.
27. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 10, 2012 at 2:14 pm

    All good questions.

    I think that creating a business account and then a business page is the way to go. That way, there is a separate login for the organization that anyone can use, even people who don’t have a personal Facebook account.

    After you create the organization account and page, you can edit the page to add an admin (you) using your Facebook personal account email address. If you are not sure of this, you can log out, log in as you, like the page, log out as you, log in as the business, and select you from the people who like the page to be an admin. Whew! That’s a lot of logging in and out!

    After you are the admin, you don’t have to use the business account (login). You can simply Use Facebook As Page which now appears on your profile. But keep the business account information handy for the future.
28. Kim says:

    January 19, 2012 at 6:08 pm

    Hi I am trying to create a personal account and a buisness account. When I created the business account my page doesn’t contain the search bar at the top or the accounts button or the create your profile button. Can you tell me how to resolve this issue?
    Thanks
29. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 19, 2012 at 8:12 pm

    Unfortunately, Kim, I can only give you a little guidance. You can’t create one kind of account while inside another kind of account. You have your business account created. Now, log out of Facebook and create your personal account. Remember to use a different email address for each type of account.
30. Kim says:

    January 19, 2012 at 9:20 pm

    Thanks, I’ll try that.
    Kim
31. Nic says:

    January 23, 2012 at 8:49 am

    I currently have a profile which under are two business pages. The first business page was incorrectly created as a place page so I have “deactivated” it (waiting for 14 day period) and re-created a “company” page with the same name. I am concerned that when the first “place” page is deactivated, the second company page with the same name will also deactivate. Should this present a problem? I do not want to merge the “place” and “company” pages together as I have heard there can be issues regarding losing material or creating a not so user friendly environment and I prefer to keep the page as simple as possible for users. My other questions is this: Once the “place” page is deactivated, may I use that same customized URL for the new “company” page once I hit the 25 “likes” needed to create a customized URL.
32. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 23, 2012 at 11:39 am

    Hi Nic,

    I’m afraid I can’t help you with the first half of your question. I didn’t even know you could create a place page instead of a business page. You might want to wait out the 14 days to make sure everything turns out as you want it.

    On the second part, I’m not sure how long Facebook holds a customized URL (they call them “usernames”) after an account is deactivated. I don’t know if they immediately become available, or if there is a holding period. But I can tell you that you no longer have to wait until you have 25 likes to request a custom URL/username. You can do it right away.

    There is such an unusual mix of things in your situation, I would love if you would come back and share with us what you learn through this process.

    Good luck!
33. Tina says:

    January 27, 2012 at 5:20 pm

    Hi Charlene,

    I currently do not have a personal facebook account. I can’t have it for privacy and legal issues that happened in high school (I had to get a restraining order from a stalker, and was advised to keep my online visibility non existent) Anyway now I am a student and I have an internship where my boss wants me to “Like” their company facebook page and help manage their social media.

    So my question is, can i LIKE a page with a business account? And can they set me as an Admin if I have a business account?

    I really can’t have a personal facebook account, so I don’t know what else to do. Otherwise i may just have to turn down this internship, but I really want to work for this company. Please help

    Thank you
34. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 28, 2012 at 9:07 am

    I’m sorry that you are having so much trouble. I’ve got some information to help you sort this out.

    If you create a business account, you must create a business page. A page can like another page, but it’s not the same as when a person likes a page. When a person likes a page, the business has the option to make that person a page administrator. When another business likes a page, there is no way that business can become a page administrator.

    Here’s the first option I see for you. It’s possible that the business may have a business Facebook account. (It’s also possible that they may NOT have a business account.) If they do, they might be willing to let you log into Facebook using their business account. It’s impossible for me to guess how they would feel about that. Many businesses do have their employees use the business account to maintain their Facebook page.

    There is another option. I understand that you have real personal security reasons to not want to use Facebook. However, it is possible to create a personal account (and a personal profile) that contains NO information beyond the account basics with every security/privacy option set to maximum privacy. No photo (or a photo of a kitten). No status updates. No friends. No use of the account except to like that business page and then become a page administrator.

    Here’s another consideration. Each business page has the option to display a list of the page administrators. Either they display all administrators or none of them, it’s not a setting per administrator. If you decide to create a personal profile, ask the business to turn off the list of page administrators to give you even more privacy.

    You are not alone with your challenge and situation. I totally get your concern for your safety. But if you are wanting to do social media work for businesses, you will have to figure out a way to be online and be private and safe. Facebook is huge arena for business social media, and not having a personal profile is going to be an ongoing challenge.

    Good luck to you!
35. Tina says:

    January 28, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    Thank you so much for your help Charlene! Much appreciated.

    From the looks of it, their business page doesn’t list their administrators. I can see it right now because it’s open to the public.

    Would you mind giving me some more details in how to make a maximum private personal account? How do I go on about doing that? I worry if I do make a personal account, my boss will see my friends list is 0 and become suspicious? So I was wondering how I can set it so nobody can see my friends list – not even my own friends (If that’s possible, although I’m guessing it’s highly unlikely)

    I am hoping the company does have a business account and that they do let me use it to update their page using that account. But if not, I have to get a personal account and figure out how to do this.

    I’m so grateful for you taking the time to give me advice about this. It helps so much.
36. Tina says:

    January 28, 2012 at 1:23 pm

    Thank you so much for your help Charlene! Much appreciated.

    From the looks of it, their business page doesn’t list their administrators. I can see it right now because it’s open to the public.

    Would you mind giving me some more details in how to make a maximum private personal account? How do I go on about doing that? I worry if I do make a personal account, my boss will see my friends list is 0 and become suspicious? So I was wondering how I can set it so nobody can see my friends list – not even my own friends (If that’s possible, although I’m guessing it’s highly unlikely)

    I am hoping the company does have a business account and that they do let me use it to update their page using that account. But if not, I have to get a personal account and figure out how to do this.

    I’m so grateful for you taking the time to give me advice about this. It helps so much.
37. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 29, 2012 at 1:42 pm

    Hi Tina.

    I was going to write a long response to you about privacy. And then I decided to review what Facebook’s help says about privacy so I could include it. It turns out, the Facebook help in this area has recently been updated and it is terrific! Check it out. Read every section. https://www.facebook.com/help/privacy

    The bottom line is this: there is some information about you that Facebook considered public information, but you can really lock down who sees everything you post based on the privacy settings you use. This portion of their help explains it all.

    Good luck to you!
38. Tina says:

    January 29, 2012 at 4:05 pm

    Thank you Charlene! From reading that I learned how to set it so nobody can see my friends list.

    This link also has some help, so I thought i would post it here in case any readers also want to learn http://romcartridge.blogspot.com/2010/05/how-to-hide-your-list-of-friends-on.html

    I am glad I found your site, it is a great resource.

    All the best,
    Tina
39. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 29, 2012 at 4:21 pm

    Glad I could help, Tina.
40. Maricela says:

    January 30, 2012 at 9:49 pm

    I deleted my personal facebook account but i was connected with my login to my personal and my business. I only want my business one now but since i deleted my personal account i don’t know how to log in to my business one. Is there a way i can still be connecting to my business even though i deleted my personal account?
41. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 31, 2012 at 7:34 am

    There isn’t any way to access your business page without your personal account. Most likely, you only deactivated your personal account. I recommend that you reactivate your personal account using the instructions here.

    If you don’t want to use your personal profile any longer, simply unfriend everyone and delete every status update you have posted in your timeline. Empty out all of your likes. Make your profile look like a ghost town. Don’t accept any more friend requests. Delete all of your photos. Set the privacy so that you must approve tags of you in other people’s photos. Your profile is still there, but if there is nothing interesting, people will get the idea that you aren’t really there.

    At this point, there is no other way to get back to your business page. You can’t create a business account to reach it. You have to use your personal account.
42. Maricela says:

    January 31, 2012 at 7:36 am

    Thank you for the help, i appreciate it. Have a wonderful day!
43. Charlene Kingston says:

    January 31, 2012 at 7:40 am

    Glad I could help, Maricela.
44. Ikram says:

    February 1, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    Hi Charlene,

    I was really glad to see your article and I was reading through all the comments and answers you have provided. First I wanted to congratulate you for the time and patience that you answer each one our inquiries. Keep it up!

    The question I have is based on a common problem but I am really confused. I have read similar questions but just not understanding the real solution. I have a facebook personal account and I have been active with it for sometime. I have friends on it and all.

    The thing is I have a company which does business in different industries (software/property/service). The ideal thing for me would be to have a page for each business but I am not sure if that is a good idea or not. Keep in mind I am really aiming for facebook.com/mycompany type of URL, short and easy to market.

    My staff has created a personal account with a different email but my same Personal Name and then added a business page with exactly the name of my Company. The business page is still not published though. Now it seems to me I may be in violation of FB rules. Not really sure.

    What I would like to do is get some clear perspective how I can go about to have a business page or account whichever one, with maximum features of facebook since what I read is a simple straight business page is really limited in many ways. I do also want that my business page is separate groups of people and not like something that is getting into my personal page details/updates.

    Should I cancel my new personal account with company page that has my desired company name though its not published yet? Should I just add a business page to my actual personal account? Will I be able to have a short business URL that is seperate from my personal profile URL?

    Thank you for all the help.
45. Charlene Kingston says:

    February 1, 2012 at 1:53 pm

    Hello, Ikram. Thanks for the kind words.

    You have a little bit of a mess with what your staff has created. How you go about fixing it depends on what you want in the end.

    I recommend creating a business account and a business page (linked together). This way, you always have a sort of back door into your business page. For the most part, you (or your staff) will use your personal account to get into Facebook and then switch to Use Facebook As Page to administer the page. You will set up everyone who is an admin based on their personal profile. Each person likes the page, then you make them an admin.

    The reason why it’s a good idea to have a back door (business account) is to keep control of your business page. It turns out, every page admin has the exact same rights. That means one of your staff could remove YOU from being a page admin (your personal Facebook account) and there is nothing you can do about it. That’s why I call it the back door. With that business account login, you always still have access to your business page.

    To get there, I recommend that you delete your unpublished business page. That will release the username (URL). Then deactivate the false personal profile and account your staff created, and then request that Facebook delete it. Use these instructions (https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=125338004213029&ref_query=deacti). It’s actually not easy to delete a Facebook profile.

    Create a Facebook business account and page at the same time using these instructions (http://socialmediadiyworkshop.com/2010/03/create-a-facebook-page-for-your-business-1/).

    You have another issue. Because your business has three separate audiences, you have to find a way to distinguish the content between them. In other words, if I want to liek your business page to learn about the software business, I don’t want to wade through information about either property or service. You need to put yourself i the shoes of a customer for each product/service line. What do they want to see? They don’t want to see news about property if they only care about software, for example. You might actually need separate Facebook pages for each product/service line to accomplish this. It’s important because it impacts the effectiveness of your business with your online community. But it’s a decision you need to make, and it’s not an easy choice. There are trade-offs for each way to go. You can certainly start with just one page and see what happens.

    Good luck to you!
46. Ikram says:

    February 2, 2012 at 12:33 am

    Hi Charlene,

    Thank you so much for your QUICK response. I have seriously taken every point into consideration. I just have a couple more, if you can kindly clarify.

    You mentioned “You might actually need separate Facebook pages for each product/service line to accomplish this. It’s important because it impacts the effectiveness of your business with your online community.” This means I have to have multiple business accounts or I can have one business account and multiple pages (based on software/property/service) in this one business account. Kindly advise the process. I did try the business account and didn’t see any option for adding the multiple pages. I have though visited some fb developers page and they seem to add multiple links on the left hand panel like “Introduction” etc.

    I understand that each business page will have to have 25 fans before I can get to setup a vanity URL, am I right in this?

    Thank you.
47. Ikram says:

    February 2, 2012 at 3:22 am

    Hi Charlene,

    One more thing. If someone actually opened Company Account. Then in that they have different pages added for each of their business. If each of those business pages have their own fan community and obviously more then 25, does this mean that those pages can have its own vanity URLs but all under one business account?

    I could not find an answer to this. I am really sorry for so many questions.

    Thank you.
48. Charlene Kingston says:

    February 2, 2012 at 11:50 am

    I’ve never tried to create an additional business page from within the same business account. My guess is that every business page would require a separate account, but I don’t know that for sure.

    You mentioned adding the other businesses into the menu on the left. Those items listed there are what Facebook calls tabs, and you can create a customized “page” or tab for each one. You could have one business page with tabs for each business line (software, property/service). But you will only have one wall, which will contain posts for three very different businesses.

    I recommend that you start off with one account, one page, one business line. Choose the business line where you already have the most engagement or interaction, or the one that you have the most news to share, etc. Consider it your first effort on Facebook, a sort of experiment. Stay focused on the one business line, build up the community, etc. I think that within 90 days you will be able to make a better informed decision about whether or not to make separate pages (and accounts) for each business line based on that experience. Having three pages is really 3 times the work. But my concern is that mixing the message so people with interest in one business line must read things unrelated to their interest will greatly reduce your community size and engagement. The message is mixed, and people don’t like that.

    You no longer have to have 25 likes to get a username (URL). You can get it right away. However, you cannot change it after you set it, so I’d wait until you make your final decision about your three business lines before choosing your username.

    The username is handy if you expect people to type it in. However, on your website, in your newsletter, etc. you can place a Facebook icon with a link, and it won’t matter if it is a short customized link or the standard longer link because people won’t see it. They will just click on the icon.
49. Charlene Kingston says:

    February 2, 2012 at 11:53 am

    I’m not sure you can add multiple business pages under one business account (login). However, the username (URL) is attached to the page, so each page can have it’s own customized username/URL.

    I understand that Facebook is confusing, and always changing. I do my best to only answer what I know for sure. I wish I could tell you more. Facebook doesn’t let people like me have access to a sandbox area, or to ask questions of their developers, etc.

    Good luck to you! And do come back and share what you have learned. Other people will benefit from it.

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