I believe a "page" is what other groups would call a "profile". Basically, Facebook wants to make sure that everyone who creates a profile is an individual person, not a corporate entity. So if I run MuddGirl's Tackle Shop, they don't want me registering as MuddGirl and using my page solely to advertise my business (they want me registering as My Real Name).

I think the page is basically your account. As in signing up for a facebook account is signing up for a facebook page.
It is possible to get a page for a business (although I don't know how). I frequently see people becoming 'fans' of local businesses.

Profile is for people. Nobody can see your profile without being in your network or being your friend.

Pages are something else entirely--they're like fan clubs, a brand's location. So if you want to promote your business, band etc. you make a page for it. You can message all the fans of a page at the same time in something called an "update".

Groups are somewhere in between.. think of them as unofficial clubs. So The New York Times will have a page, but there are groups saying things like "I'm Addicted to the New York Times" or "FIRE Maureen Dowd NOW!". Groups are somewhat more flexible than pages in terms of their features, but I think you can add features to your Page as well so they kinda converge. You can invite people to groups and admins of non-huge groups can send a message to all their members, which lands in your inbox so it's a higher priority than an update from a page.

Profile = You
Page = Your Brand
Group = A bunch of peeps getting together for anything at all

The latter are two are completely different from the first, which is more personal.

People who're semi-celebrities sometimes start by having just a profile and they realize they don't actually care about all the people they added as "friends"--don't want messages from them, don't want to see their photos, don't care about their invites--so then they make a Page named after themselves for the random peeps.

I bet Firas is right. I was confusing "pages" with "profile pages".

I bet Firas is right. I was confusing "pages" with "profile pages".

me too.

Firas is right. Few people know this, but Firas is the King of Facebook.

Ok so if I understand it right, I can brand my company in a page I make even though I'm registered as me?

Few people know this, but Firas is the King of Facebook.

*swoons*

chewatadistance: yup. Create a Page.

chewie:

"So I reluctantly joined Facebook..."

dude I reluctantly joined FB about a year ago because the Denver Cruise switched from myspace *shudder* to FB for updates / bulletins. Just for the record, I resisted the pit of digital suckitude that is myspace for four years, and only logged in on a very random / occasional basis.

six months after I joined FB (and hadn't bothered to check it much or put any profile info up), in an unrelated incident, our cycling team website went tits up for a week and alla sudden the only way we had to communicate was... you guessed it, via a group on FB.

now a year later I'm completely addicted to the bloody site.

consider yourself warned.

Thanks firas!!!!

lfr, I hear you. I do. I had made a deal with myself that it would be linkedIn and twitter and that was it. I need another social doodad like another hole in my head. *sigh*