We at Windy City Strategies called for this a while back. After all, it was Twitter’s single greatest advantage. The fact that you could track celebrities and other thought leaders without being “friends” with them. In fact, we suggested that Facebook offer a “follow” feature.
But, the fact that it took Facebook this long to launch their Facebook Subscribe Button is really telling. It tells a story of arrogance as well as defeat. Worst of all, if they had copied Twitter a bit faster, it might have prevented their massive and ever-popular growth.
At least they’re copying Google Plus’ Circles filtering feature more quickly.
Here’s the big problem. Celebrities aren’t using Facebook to share publicly. After all, “that’s what Twitter is for.” And while I can now filter my friends list, and keep my church friends from seeing my questionable humor, it would take me going back and defining my 600+ Facebook relationships.
So, yes, you can follow celebrities and your industry thought leaders on Facebook now. The problem is, they’re not here.