Facebook Question - Who sees my posts?

[Spider]

I have been trying to find out who gets to see my posts on Facebook, or anyone's posts, for that matter. What is the structure? I have looked around for discussion forum, Q&As, FAQs, and have fouind nothing that helps.

I realise the recent privacy settings allow you to say who can see your Wall, but I am wondering more about the Live Feed portion of your Home Page.

When you type something into the dialog box on your profile (your info page or your wall) that appears in your Live Feed. Who else's Live Feed does it go to? Even though I have my privacy setting at 'Everyone,' I'm sure it doesn't go to all 35 million FB members. I guess it goes to the Live Feed on my friends' Home pages only.

As an ordinary member of a group, when you post on the group wall, your post appears on your own Live Feed, but who else gets it? Presumably it appears in the Live Feed of all the other members of the group. But does it also appear in the Live Feed of all your friends, too, even if they are not a member of the group? I wouldn't think so, but I don't know. You are posting in your own name, so why not?

When you are the administrator of a group, you post under your own name, not the group's name - you are treated, it seems, as the same as any other member with regard posting. So, does the adminstrator's posts go only to the Live Feed of group members or to their own friends as well?

A Page is different, though. When a fan posts on the page, that appears under the fan's name. Same question as above - does the post appear in the Live Feed of only fellow-fans or fans plus friends?

A page adminstrator is dealt with differently, though. The page administrator's posts appear as post by the page, not by the person. In this case, I would think the post only appears in the Live Feed of page fans, but I'm not sure.

Why does this matter?

If you are using the Page as a Business Page for promoting your business, you need to know who is seeing what you post. If you are posting some very important or super-sales info on your business Page, and only your friends are seeing it, what's the point? Or, if you are posting something of national consequence (?) and only fans or members are seeing it, you have rather missed your mark.

So where is your stuff going?

Does anyone have a clue on this? Or have a logical answer to suggest?

[Harold Mansfield]

I have been trying to find out who gets to see my posts on Facebook, or anyone's posts, for that matter. What is the structure? I have looked around for discussion forum, Q&As, FAQs, and have fouind nothing that helps.

I realise the recent privacy settings allow you to say who can see your Wall, but I am wondering more about the Live Feed portion of your Home Page.

When you type something into the dialog box on your profile (your info page or your wall) that appears in your Live Feed. Who else's Live Feed does it go to? Even though I have my privacy setting at 'Everyone,' I'm sure it doesn't go to all 35 million FB members. I guess it goes to the Live Feed on my friends' Home pages only.

As an ordinary member of a group, when you post on the group wall, your post appears on your own Live Feed, but who else gets it? Presumably it appears in the Live Feed of all the other members of the group. But does it also appear in the Live Feed of all your friends, too, even if they are not a member of the group? I wouldn't think so, but I don't know. You are posting in your own name, so why not?

When you are the administrator of a group, you post under your own name, not the group's name - you are treated, it seems, as the same as any other member with regard posting. So, does the adminstrator's posts go only to the Live Feed of group members or to their own friends as well?


Only the members of the group see your post and since you are posting as yourself (and not as the administrator of a group or fan page), only your friends see what is on your wall, which also shows up on the live feed


A Page is different, though. When a fan posts on the page, that appears under the fan's name. Same question as above - does the post appear in the Live Feed of only fellow-fans or fans plus friends?

A page adminstrator is dealt with differently, though. The page administrator's posts appear as post by the page, not by the person. In this case, I would think the post only appears in the Live Feed of page fans, but I'm not sure.
This is true. Your page posts appear in the live feed of your page fans.



Why does this matter?

If you are using the Page as a Business Page for promoting your business, you need to know who is seeing what you post. If you are posting some very important or super-sales info on your business Page, and only your friends are seeing it, what's the point? Or, if you are posting something of national consequence (?) and only fans or members are seeing it, you have rather missed your mark.

So where is your stuff going?

Does anyone have a clue on this? Or have a logical answer to suggest?

The easy answer is..only people that are connected to you, see your stuff.

If you are a member of a group, the group see's it, as well as, it will show that you posted on a group wall, or other page wall. It will also show if you interact with another person..all of that goes on your wall.

Only your original posts, either Fan Page, or Personal Page go to the live feed of others that are connected to said page.

For instance, if you vote "I like it" on someone else's post, that will go on your wall, but not to the live feed...except for the people that are also a friend or fan of the same page....when they see the original post on the feed, it will also show who commented or voted.

[Spider]

Okay, Harold - I think we are saying the same thing. Just let me clarify a point or two.


Only the members of the group see your post and since you are posting as yourself (and not as the administrator of a group or fan page), only your friends see what is on your wall, which also shows up on the live feed..The first part - "Only the members of the group see your post" - I presume you mean only members of the group see my post on their Live Feed, because anyone who goes to the group page can read the group wall (unless it is a closed group.) You don't have to be a member to read an open group's wall. I'm not sure if you even have to be a member to post.

Regarding the second part - "only your friends see what is on your wall..." - I have my privacy setting to 'Everybody' so I think everyone can see my wall, even people who are not logged in to FB, but it will appear only on my friends' Live Feed. Is that what you are saying?



This is true. Your page posts appear in the live feed of your page fans..So, I think you are saying that it makes no difference whether you post as an adminsitrator of a page or a group or as an ordinary member or fan of either, your post on the page or group wall only goes to the Live Feed of other members/fans and not to the Live Feed of your friends who are not members/fans. Did I understand you correclty?



The easy answer is..only people that are connected to you, see your stuff... But even more restricted than that, I think. People that are connected to you in the "blue group" only get to see your "blue group" stuff, and not the "green page" stuff that the "green page" people are who are connected to you see. And vice versa.

That's a bummer. From a business POV, that is preaching to the converted, almost.

[Harold Mansfield]

So, I think you are saying that it makes no difference whether you post as an adminsitrator of a page or a group or as an ordinary member or fan of either, your post on the page or group wall only goes to the Live Feed of other members/fans and not to the Live Feed of your friends who are not members/fans. Did I understand you correclty?


But even more restricted than that, I think. People that are connected to you in the "blue group" only get to see your "blue group" stuff, and not the "green page" stuff that the "green page" people are who are connected to you see. And vice versa.

That's a bummer. From a business POV, that is preaching to the converted, almost.

That is exactly right. You only get live feeds from friends, groups and pages that you have joined.
My personal friends don't get info from my pages on their home page feeds. They are 2 different things.

[Spider]

So the only way to get increased coverage and speak to people who are not already members and fans of your groups and pages (other than paying for advertising) is to post the same thing on your own wall and the walls of pages and groups of which you are a member, fan or administrator.

If you have 300 friends, 200 fans and 100 group members, you have to post the same post on all 3 walls, and if any of your friends is a page fan and a group member, they get to see it 3 times on their Live Feed. And if you are a member or fan of other pages and groups, you'd have to post on their wall, too, except that would be like trying to steal people and/or spam!

Maybe I'll have to buy some FB advertising. But I've never clicked any of the ads, have you?

[orion_joel]

I Think that Facebook advertising looks like an interesting option. While i have clicked on ads on facebook i have never bought anything. The primary benefit i see is that the ads can be highly targeted to demographics. This i think is a benefit, however still means you need a good ad.

You have probably never clicked on the ads because you have not seen an ad that really spoke to you and got your attention. This is possibly a key point for you to remember, when doing your own ads. I think people do click on ads but they need to be selling something they want and catch their attention in respect to a reason why.

[vangogh]

Thanks for starting this thread Frederick and thanks for providing the answers Harold. This has always confused me about Facebook. I've never quite been sure who sees what I post or where it goes. I think I have a better idea now.


The primary benefit i see is that the ads can be highly targeted to demographics.

That's the major benefit. I haven't used the ads myself, but I've seen many say good things about them for this very reason.

[lav]

So, I think you are saying that it makes no difference whether you post as an adminsitrator of a page or a group or as an ordinary member or fan of either, your post on the page or group wall only goes to the Live Feed of other members/fans and not to the Live Feed of your friends who are not members/fans I dont think a post to group or page by a member or a fan shows up in the other members or fans live feed.

From what Ive seen only posts from the administrator of that page show up in the members live feed. eg If i post to your Self improvement page frederick that post will not come up in other fans live feed. Other fans of the page will only see my post when they actually visit the page. Unless there is some sort of setting I have checked and its just me???

[Spider]

Jason - I think you are right - but this is new. Until very recently (the last few days) a fan who was a friend posting on Self Improvement's wall appeared on my Live Feed. In fact, one of the regular contributors to Self Improvement (SI) would post the same post to SI and to his own wall, and I would see it twice in my Live Feed. Now I'm not!

I just this minute posted something to a page wall where I am a fan and it did not appear on my own Live Feed.

That is terrible!

So now we must deduce that only ADMIN posts to a Page's wall is sent to the Live Feed for fans of that Page, but nobody else's posts to the Page's wall is seen anywhere except on the Page itself.

I presume that is the same for Groups.

Bummer!

[Patrysha]

I ran some facebook ads over the summer. The click thru rate was low, which means they weren't very compelling...but the interesting thing was I got out of the experience was the number of people (okay it was only a handful, but it was a small experiment) that said they had seen the ad on Facebook...so even though it didn't result in click thrus there was a subtle branding effect.

[Spider]

That's good to know, Patrysha. Thanks.

[Spider]

I dont think a post to group or page by a member or a fan shows up in the other members or fans live feed.
From what Ive seen only posts from the administrator of that page show up in the members live feed. eg If i post to your Self improvement page frederick that post will not come up in other fans live feed. Other fans of the page will only see my post when they actually visit the page. Unless there is some sort of setting I have checked and its just me???I think that must have been a glitch, Jason. I have just posted to the wall of a group of which I am a member but not administrator. My post appeared on the group's wall, obviously, but also appeared on my Live Feed. It appears as a mere Other Activity mention on my own profile, but the full post appeared on the Live Feed, presumably because I am am member of the group. So, I deduce that other members of the group would see it in their Live Feed, too.

ADDED: Just joined the FB page for Newcastle Australia, and posted a question. My post appears on the page wall, of course, and also appears on my Live Feed. You are a fan of this page, Jason - do you see my post on your Live Feed?

[lav]

Yes I see your post..... coool!

But I dont see anyone elses post that posts to the Newcastle Australia page unless they are a friend of mine.

[Spider]

...I dont see anyone elses post that posts to the Newcastle Australia page unless they are a friend of mine.Ach! That's a new twist! So, you have to be a friend AND a fan/member for it to show on your Live Feed. A post to a page or group wall does not show on the Live Feed of fans unless they are ALSO friends, and also do not show on the Live Feed of a friend unless they are ALSO a fan.

Well, that's better than it was but not much. Oh well, it's free so we can't complain too much, eh?

[lav]

This could be one of facebooks ways of controlling spam. Think about how many people would join a group just to spam the members of that group. I think it is good in a way as Im a member of some groups that get a lot of spam posted to their wall but thank goodness I dont see it unless I actually visit the page...... however Facebook is still a hard place for marketers to expand their reach without paying for ads or already having a large following elsewhere.

[Spider]

...Facebook is still a hard place for marketers to expand their reach without paying for ads or already having a large following elsewhere.Don't I know it! Good strategy by FB for monetizing that reach, though. Perhaps I will try some advertising.

I wonder if I can get Tiger Woods as a spokesman, cheap!!!