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John C Hansen, LEED AP
02-24-2017, 04:59 PM
HomeGauge has a Facebook group where they encourage interaction and questions about their software. It is a closed group, and I am wondering if I should create a new Facebook identity for my business so that I can keep that activity separate from my personal FB presence. How are you handling this when you do anything on Facebook related to your business?

Stephanie Jaynes
12-01-2018, 02:52 PM
Hi John,

You asked this question forever ago, but I wanted to give it an answer since I think it's a common concern!

It's against Facebook's Terms of Service to have duplicate profiles, including one personal and one work profile. If you do create a second profile, you run the risk of Facebook shutting down BOTH profiles without warning.

Unfortunately, if you'd like to join a work-related Facebook group, your only option is to do it with your personal profile as only Facebook profiles can join groups. (Not Business Pages, either.)

However, if you're worried about mixing your work and personal life, there are settings available on Facebook where you can control who sees what. (i.e. You can separate your contacts into friend, family, and work groups and then select which groups see what when you post.)

Hope that helps!

Stephanie Jaynes
Content Marketing Manager
InspectorPro Insurance

John C Hansen, LEED AP
12-01-2018, 04:41 PM
Stephanie, Thank you for your insight. Controlling visibility of my posts is an incomplete solution for me when I would really enjoy my business associates not being able to see my profile which is more of a personal profile. And I have not found a comprehensive tutorial on how to create and use groups of contract. And, is there such a thing as a contact in Facebook? I thought the model for associations between persons in Facebook was one of "Friends" rather than "Contacts" like it is on LinkedIn.

Stephanie Jaynes
12-01-2018, 05:17 PM
Yes, I think many of us wish there was a better way to separate business and personal on social media. Networks have tried to make it easier with the invention of Business Pages, but since Pages cannot interact with Groups or visit Personal Profiles, it's an imperfect solution.

You're correct in that "contacts" isn't the best word. Facebook uses the term "Friends" while LinkedIn uses the term "Connections." The groups of contacts to which I was referring is formally known as an "audience" or "section" on Facebook.

On Facebook, you can control post visibility via the audience selector tool, which you can read about here (https://www.facebook.com/help/120939471321735?helpref=faq_content). More on post visibility in general here (https://www.facebook.com/help/167941163265974?helpref=faq_content).

Hope that helps!