Who’s Sharing on Facebook?

U.S. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Anderson Cooper 360,” U2, Britney Spears, Lance Armstrong, Dwyane Wade, Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, The New York Times, CNN and More are on Facebook

Over 175 Million Users Can Connect to the Famous on Facebook

PALO ALTO, Calif. – March 4, 2009 –Recognizing that political leaders, celebrities, professional athletes, media outlets, and public figures are always looking for innovative and creative ways to directly reach their audiences, Facebook today introduced new tools for the most popular influencers in the world to broadcast messages instantly and connect with the millions of people using Facebook each day.

Those who use Facebook’s new public profiles, currently called Facebook Pages, will be able to share all types of content with an unlimited number of users. Shared content can be brief messages or may include photos and videos and will soon appear in News Feed, Facebook’s popular service that streams what people you care about are doing, thinking, saying, watching, photographing and reading right now. Facebook users can then easily make connections, comment on posted content and join the online conversations with the famous – just as they can with a family member, friend or colleague.

To showcase the new, rich features, Facebook partnered with several world-renowned individuals and organizations:

• President Obama is rallying support for new U.S. policies and initiatives

• “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is giving viewers a new way to interact

• U2 is connecting with fans of their new album

• CNN is providing breaking developments to news junkies

• Stanford University is sharing its discoveries and knowledge

• The NBA’s star athletes are posting photos and video highlights from their games

• LIVESTRONG is empowering cancer survivors and advocates in the global fight against cancer and raising awareness about the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign

“We are excited about our new presence on Facebook and the new capabilities it offers for us to connect with fans and potential guests,” said Sheri Salata, executive producer, “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” “Facebook is such a cool and easy way for me to connect with my fans while I'm on the road,” said Britney Spears. “I love that I can update my status, blog and post videos and photos all in one place.”

“This new Facebook profile for ‘Anderson Cooper 360’ allows us to have a constant dialogue with a community on Facebook,” said David Doss, senior executive producer of “Anderson Cooper 360.” “We’ll be communicating breaking news and insider perspective directly from the 360 newsroom.” “Connecting our supporters with our new profile helps us build awareness for our cause, spread vital disaster relief information and quickly mobilize millions of volunteers through updates and Facebook events,” said Gail McGovern, president and CEO of the American Red Cross.

People can sign up or log on to Facebook at www.facebook.com to connect with any of these celebrities and public entities:

American Red Cross
Anderson Cooper 360
Ashton Kutcher
Baron Davis
Britney Spears
CNN
Demi Moore
Dwyane Wade
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Governor Sarah Palin
Lance Armstrong
LIVESTRONG
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Michael Phelps
National Basketball Association (NBA)
NBA Development League
Paul Pierce
President Barack Obama
President Nicolas Sarkozy
ServiceNation
Stanford University
The Colbert Report
The New York Times
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Today Show
WNBA
U2

The company has created step-by-step instructions for any public figure or organization wanting to create a presence on Facebook. In addition, Facebook offers best-practice suggestions for public figures, non-profits or other organizations, entertainers and bands. This can be found at http://www.facebook.com/publicprofiles.

Evolving to Profiles for Everyone and Everything on Facebook

Facebook is moving towards offering everyone and everything on the site the same experience as with profiles – personal web pages that currently represent each of the more than 175 million users on Facebook. In the next week, all administrators of Facebook Pages will have the opportunity to make changes to the new design and can publish the updated design for all users to see whenever they choose. On March 11th, these Pages will automatically change to the new profile design.

Public profiles will be familiar to all Facebook users because they have the same look and function as the current profiles, including these popular features:

Wall - The Wall displays the most recent and relevant information on a profile. The Wall is a collection of what a celebrity or public entity shares as well as what those connected to them are sharing. People can now easily comment on the content posted.

Publisher - Just as a user can add content such as status updates, photos, and videos to any of their connections’ profiles, the Publisher provides a simple interface for sharing content.

Tabs and Applications - Celebrities and public entities choose the default Tab that all users see when they land on their profile. Some applications that a celebrity or public entity has added to their profile are featured on the Boxes Tab.

News Feed – Users will receive updates in News Feed from public profiles just like how they receive updates from their friends and family. Every time users visit Facebook, they’ll see the latest content from their friends, celebrities, and others they care about.