It's Open - Social Media Strategy Consultancy

Eagle-eyed Facebook users may have noticed that certain Facebook pages now have a private message function, where fans can send a page a private message.

Now this, like all new Facebook services, has pros and cons.

Pros

• Pages can directly message someone regarding a dispute or when delicate information is involved.
• It could cut down on page spam/abuse, if pages are allowed to respond directly to certain individuals.
• It could add a personal touch, allowing page users to personally thank certain individuals- therefore further improving the brand/fan relationship.
• Twitter already has a similar system, and it works well there.
• Facebook admins will no longer need to use personal profiles to send messages.

Cons

• It could actually increase spam and abuse, with fans able to send anything by private message.
• Equally, it could lead to controversy if an inexperienced Facebook page manager responds to a private message in the wrong way.
• Currently, private message conversations can only be initiated by a page fan, and a page admin can then respond. This limits conversation options, and means fans hold all the power when it comes to starting a private conversation. However, reports suggest it is possible to privately message some fans when they comment on a wall post.
• Facebook admins may choose to only respond to negative wall comments privately. Dealing with constructive criticism publicly, in the right way, can actually be great PR for a brand, so to not do so could be bad for a page.

Source

What do you think? Are you a fan of the Facebook page private messaging function, or against it?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 10:36 am and is filed under Social Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.