Chances are we all know at least one person who’s in charge of managing a brand’s Facebook fan page. Heck, many of us probably even own this responsibility ourselves. But, what happens when we/they take a different job in two years?
I’ll tell you what happens. The brand will find itself in a tough spot.
Why? Because, as it stands now, Facebook’s “creator” role cannot be transferred. At least not without a series of calls/emails to Facebook asking to make the change. That’s right, if you are set as the “creator” in Facebook and you leave the organization you’re representing, it seems like it’s pretty darn difficult to transfer or remove the coveted “creator” tag.
Probably not a huge deal as many folks who move from company to company won’t look to sabotage your brand fan page (and you probably also have a few admins who can access the site), but ultimately, you still want “control” of your page. It’s a risk management issue for companies.
Ownership of social networks needs to be flexible. Pliable. Transferable. With many tools this isn’t a problem. But, in this case, Facebook has a problem. And, I think we’re all going to hear a lot more about this issue in the months/year ahead.
Keep in mind, I’m not the only one voicing this concern. Many people have risen this issue with Facebook–right on their site. And while I’m not really complaining, per se (more raising the issue), I do think this this is a serious issue. And one Facebook would be wise to address ASAP.
Have you run into this issue yet? Is there an effective “workaround”? If not, please join me in helping raise this issue to Facebook, on behalf the clients we represent or work for, in hopes they will institute a solution soon.
I agree 100% with this. it doesn’t make sense for them to make this so difficult to remove.
I work at an agency so thinking about all of the facebook fan pages I’ve made for clients is overwhelming!
Good post.
I ran into this issue when I created a Facebook page for a large local non-profit for a freelance team/project I worked on. At first it appeared that this would be a non-issue because the non-profit said they wanted the page taken down after the event. Once they saw the success the page had, they delegated a person on their team to take it over. I added that person as an admin and honestly, have yet to have looked at the page since adding them. I do believe that this will most likely be the case in most situations for creators who move on to bigger and better things.
This being said, I totally agree that Facebook needs to find a way to transfer the “creator” status of pages.
I have definitely had this problem with my organization, and it was a huge part in why I was so hesitant to utilize Facebook in our social media mix. I have been told by some that if you add another administrator to your page, then you can transfer by just having the person leaving disconnect themselves, and then the person remaining will be the “creator”, but I’m not 100% certain this actually works/happens. Also, it doesn’t address the issue of a single communications/manager at an organization- what happens if they leave? How do they hand it off to a new admin/mgr.? Also, it essentially forces the admin/mgr to have their own personal Facebook account in order to maintain control over the org. account, which in my opinion, sort of backs these PR/communications people into a corner. I hope Facebook considers these issues going forward and works to make the organization/business pages more flexible/easy to transfer.
Guess my team was thinking ahead when we created our Facebook fan page.
We used one of our generic email accounts to create the fan page. Then the people who actively manage the account were made admins, and they can be deleted when they leave the company.
I can see where this would be a big problem for agencies who handle multiple clients’ fan pages. But perhaps they too should be utilizing their clients’ generic emails such as “socialmedia@corporation.com” when they create the fan page.
Yes, I agree this is a problem. I also adopt the “two administrators” option as a way to protect the company. On a similar note, I’m also bothered by the way professional marketers/pr get their personal facebook accounts tangled up in their professional pages. I coach people to set up a separate professional account with a clean/proessional photo that always stays the same… unless they are 100% certain they will never post a profile pic without alcohol, tobacco, costumes, or other questionable content that could reflect poorly on the company.
Jenny: That’s a great idea, and one I’ve heard a few people use. I may actually use that in the very near future. Thank you!
FleurdeFlorida: Actually, I’m not so sure the approach you’re suggesting works. That’s exactly what I was hoping would happen for one of my clients and it hasn’t worked out that way. I’ve encouraged them to send a note to Facebook asking to remove the “creator.” Only way out, it seems.
Missy: The multiple admins is a great way to “protect” a company. That’s a “must have” for all organizations, in my opinion. That said, it still doesn’t solve the “creator” issue. Thanks for sharing!
@arikhanson
We created a personal FB account for our organization that is the master admin of the Fan page. This way, the page isn’t attached to any one person.
Arik-
Please let me know if you have any luck with your client sending a request to Facebook to change the ‘Creator.’ I’ve emailed multiple times and have heard nothing. I was so impressed when Facebook got back to me right away when someone had taken a ‘username’ that my client had trademarked, but this situation was a letdown.
I would really recommend taking the guesswork out and going the route that Jenny suggests.. or having the creator be the one person who is truly going to go down with the ship- the inventor, the namesake, etc.
I’m surprised that Facebook hasn’t changed this already. It seems like common sense. I guess that in the past, when the site was used solely as a personal social network, it wasn’t something they really had a problem with. I guess now that Facebook is being used in business/marketing strategies, they need to alter some of how the site works with that in mind. With as often as Facebook changes, I would guess it won’t be too long before this changes as well.
We usually do the same think Nick does. In addition, we usually make the client’s personal profile the “creator”, then add whoever we need to as an admin.
We’ve been doing exactly what Jenny suggests. I actually set up a gmail account (companynameSMgmail.com) and have it autoforwarded to my primary email account. Then use the gmail account for Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc. profile establishment. The gmail account info is provided to the client. If and when they move on and are no longer working with us, they can “unforward” the gmail account and change their passwords.
(But you have to log out of Facebook personally and then click “Create a Page” on the FB login page to initiate the FB page creation process so that you are not identified as the “creator” of the page – you can make yourself an admin after page creation.)
Umm, how is this a problem, Arik? As others have commented and as elaborated at http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=15188 it is very easy to add additional page admins, and there’s no limit to the number; so if a person is about to leave the company, he/she adds new admins, then the new admins delete the old one.
Great point, Arik. I’m actually dealing with a similar issue right now. Last year, I asked an intern to launch a Facebook page for a client. Big mistake.
She didn’t do anything wrong, at all…in fact, she made a terrific page. However, I messed up.
1) I should have given her my account info to launch the page.
2) I should have immediately been made an administrator.
She left us right after making the page and through a series of communication challenges, the page laid dormant, even though it attract many followers for a local restaurant.
Now, we are faced with trying to revitalize a long-dormant page or blow it up and start from scratch.
Big learning lesson.
@Ari – The problem isn’t adding/removing admins. The problem comes when the person who created the page is no longer affiliated with the business. There is no way to remove the creator like there is with other admins. They are treated differently – other admins cannot remove the creator.
So, if I create a page for a client while logged into Facebook as myself, I become the creator and am forever an admin on the page regardless of whether the company continues to consult with me and my firm. They may move on to a different firm but I would still be connected as a creator/admin to the page without any way to remove me (other than apparently a series of phone calls to Facebook).
Oh great now you tell me! Thanks Kate I will keep that in mind next time around. I have seen where companies create a profile first then make a fan page, but people get confused about friending or fan’ing…….
I know Ashley Vaness was the Admin for Colle McVoy and moved on and she said it was no problem with transfer based on a couple of calls to Facebook.
Thanks Arik for raising this issue!
I’ve been establishing Facebook and Twitter accounts for clients for some time now, and I agree with some of the comments above – generic accounts! We recommend gmail accounts for all clients (and my company) so that it’s easy to manage between people – then creating a generic Facebook profile page to handle the fan page.
One thing I thought you’d address in this post, Arik, is the overall tonality of the page. That definitely is important to develop when switching between admins and when your Facebook page is initially set up. So I recommend, along with a gmail/generic Facebook account, a document addressing what the page/tone/goals are all about.
@dferrari
The only thing I can recommend would be create pages under a fake Facebook name that anyone administrating the account can log into. This way those of us who are administrating the account never have to attach our personal account to this pages and be stuck with the creator responsibility. Understandably Facebook made the decision they did, yet there should be a way that any admin can be removed. I even did a test account where I created a page with a fake account, and then deactivated the account. That account was STILL listed as an Admin even after the account was deactivated.
Great conversation everyone! It is a must to set-up pages under a Gmail/general company email address and then have your staff whose working on the pages access it through their own Facebook accounts by designating them an admin.
However, what about when you start working with a new client who already has an existing fan page and an individual at the client (or worse, some other person at a prior agency) is the creator?
We are hesitant about giving others not at our shop access to admin rights for fear that they may accidentally mess something up…or steal knowledge/code that we’ve developed. I guess a call to our sales rep is the only way to remove creators.
As an option, has anyone set up a Business Account to manage their pages and ad campaigns vs. funneling everything through a fake personal account?
How do you guys communicate personally with fans of your client’s pages besides directly on the wall? Having a personal account with multiple clients under it leaves us communicating directly with fans as our agency’s fake personal account and not from the brand (when contacting fans to speak to them privately offline via ‘Send Susy Smith a Message”).
Sorry to be long-winded but this is going to be a hot topic this year as more people get deeper in to Facebook. Any advice is appreciated.
Did anyone ever get in touch with someone at Facebook? The creator of my org’s fan page has left the organization and is insisting on being disassociated with the Fan page. We’ve tried several times to get in touch with Facebook at info@facebook.com, to no avail. Any other contact info you all have?
Hey Krista contact @ashleyvaness Ashley Vaness she had some really good success with facebook. You email me @ keith.privette@gmail.com I have a facebook contact but dont want to broadcast.
Well folks, i dont know how true this is, but ive heard that actually it was some student who started FB. Thing is, although it WOULD be nice to have all the “extra” features and stuff, bare in mind there is currently more than 7 Million Facebook-members. Not only is it a difficult task managing a project of such capasity, but also bare in mind that the studend (if i’m correct) actually did us all a “favour” to let us use FB. Seeing its free i would suggest we stop complaining and rather appreciate what we received. Lets rather change the “complaints” to “suggestions”…would sound better i think