I feel slightly uncomfortable with the idea of setting up a personal fan page on Facebook. It seems a little arrogant to send out a message saying, “Duncan became a fan of Duncan Macleod and suggests you become one too.” And yet that’s the way you’ve got to go if you want to start up a Fan page on Facebook, unless you get your minions to do all the inviting. Promoting your work online requires you to get over your worries about inflated ego. After all, writing a blog assumes that someone somewhere reads what you write and feels OK about it. Writing an annual Christmas letter, perhaps, is the real precursor to the personal Fan page, providing an update on all the achievements of the family. I must admit I haven’t written a Christmas letter for a while now.

A Facebook fan page offers the opportunity for a person or group or organisation to keep friends and followers in touch, in some ways acting as a combination of newsletter, discussion group and network. It’s a step beyond the more informal network of Facebook friends, which is limited to 5000 people. Facebook Fan pages are public, not limited to people who are signed up to Facebook. You can send updates out as often as you wish, knowing that people are interested in hearing more and have the option of leaving the Fan following.

Seeing what and who people become fans of tells us something about who they are and how they connect with the world. I’m registered as a fan of The Inspiration Room, Kevin Rudd and Labor, Brian McLaren, Fubiz, The Alban Institute, Journey Online, Bannerblog, NCYC 2011, Psyop, Crikey, CLIO Awards, Institute for Youth Ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary, Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, The Perlorian Brothers, and a few others…