Which Super Fan Made the Fan Page?

August 10, 2009 5:57 AM

How can I figure out who the admin is for a Facebook fan page?

My boss has asked me to try to take an inventory of all the groups and pages that bear our name, and, if possible, to find out how "official" they are by figuring out who runs them. This is a pretty easy task for groups, where the admin is almost always listed, but I've been perplexed by the task of finding out who admins a fan page. Does anyone know where I could find that information, short of becoming a fan and asking on the wall?

posted by sjuhawk31 to computers & internet (3 comments total)

I don't think you can easily find out who the admin is for a Facebook Page, as only authorized representatives of the entity with a page are supposed to set-up Pages (see Who can create a Page? and How are Pages different than Facebook Groups? at the same link).

That said, before you and your boss start tracking down or trying to take down every unauthorized discussion of your company on the internet (or just Facebook), you should make sure you've read and understand the message of The Cluetrain Manifesto. It may be that removing an unauthorized Page is your best alternative, but it won't be without consequences for your brand and your fans.
posted by McGuillicuddy at 6:29 AM on August 10

McGuillicuddy, the second half of your answer is a battle I'm preparing to head (the quest for unauthorized content is something our general counsel wants), but I'm not quite ready yet. The book you link to could be a great start.
posted by sjuhawk31 at 6:39 AM on August 10

Unfortunately for you, this isn't possible. Pages are designed so that you can't find out who the administrator for a page is. I'm an administrator for a corporate page (authorized) but there is absolutely no way for anyone to find that out through the corporate page or through my profile. The only way you could tell is if you logged in as me, or as one of the other administrators.

It might be possible to deduce--usually administrators are also fans of the page, and might also promote it on their profiles, but they'd need to have their profiles open to the public for you to figure that out, which seems unlikely. If something that they're doing is detrimental to your brand or if they're presenting themselves as an official face of your company when they're not, Facebook has so far done a good job of listening to complaints and taking down such pages.
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 6:57 AM on August 10