Facebook recently introduced an opt-in list of “Suggested Pages” as another step in the new user registration process. In stride with the recent decision to replace the “Become a Fan” button with “Like”, this appears to be an attempt by Facebook to encourage new users to express their interests and become active.
The phrase, “Connect with your favorite celebrities, businesses and brands to hear the latest news from them”, is displayed above the list.
The roughly 100 suggested Pages consist of popular celebrities, athletes, public figures, sports teams, TV shows, media outlets and brands. Approximately one-third of these Pages are sports-related. Facebook has a history of supporting and promoting the sports genre due to the passion and engagement it elicits from fans.
When the new “Pages” template was introduced to delineate them from “Groups”, one-third of the launch partners were also either pro athletes, teams or leagues.
In our trials, the Suggested Pages ranged in number of “likes” from DC rapper Wale’s 85,000 to President Barack Obama’s 8.2 million. Other reports claim the list is comprised of the most “Liked” Pages, which is false. For example, Lance Armstrong (ranked #3 in our Top 30 Athletes on Facebook report) has over 1.2 million “likes”, yet does not make an appearance. The details surrounding the selection process have not been disclosed, but it’s most likely a combination of algorithm and human oversight with an emphasis on current trends and what’s popular.
Other blogs have reported that this does not appear to be a deceitful marketing ploy. Although I agree, this action will likely prove extremely beneficial for the Pages that were fortunate to make the cut. With the hundreds of thousands of new users that sign up everyday, it offers an immense advantage for suggested Pages. Even discounting the spam accounts and those who never become active users, it’s still one of the fastest growing online networks by number.
When Twitter offered its “Suggested User List” to showcase accounts deemed interesting, accounts such as Ashton Kutcher and Shaquille O’Neal skyrocketed in number of followers as a direct result.
In January of this year, Twitter eventually disposed of its list and replaced it with a less controversial method of allowing users to select accounts to follow based on their interests.
It will be interesting to see if Facebook runs into similar problems as Twitter and is forced to either remove or alter its Suggested Pages List. Furthermore, it will be interesting to see how quickly some of these suggested Pages grow over the next few months. If you see a rapid increase across a number of these Pages, you can be sure it’s a result of this move.
What are your thoughts?
