Law Technology Today From the ABA Legal Technology Resource Center
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These days, more and more law firms and solo practitioners are creating Facebook Pages to establish a law firm presence on Facebook. Initially, Facebook Pages had only one administrator, but earlier this year, Facebook created multiple administrator roles which allow several different levels of access and control for different individuals within the firm.
A law firm’s Facebook Page can have multiple administrators, but each Page administrator will need their own personal Facebook account. This allows firms to create multiple administrators to help manage and post to the firm’s page, while avoiding the potential problem which could arise if a single administrator had access to the Page and left the firm. It also allows some balance and control so that no one individual can hold the firm’s Page ‘hostage’ in the event or a problem.
The multiple administrator roles also allows law firms to spread the responsibility for the firm’s Facebook Page, and increase the likelihood that posts will be regular and comments will receive responses in a timely manner.
There are five different categories of Page administrator: Manager, Content Creator, Moderator, Advertiser and Insight Analyst.
The Manager has the most permissions, including the ability to edit the Page, create posts and ads, respond to and delete comments, send Messages as the Page and view Page insights. The Manager is the only administrator who can access and assign administrator roles. By default the creator of the Page is the Page Manager, but the Manager can then add other Managers, which will allow the original Manager to be ‘demoted’ in their access or removed as an Administrator entirely, if necessary. This may come in handy for firms who hire an outside individual to create the firm’s initial Facebook Page.
Content Creators can do everything a Manager can do except manage the roles of other Page Administrators. Page Administrators in a Moderator role cannot edit the Page or post as the Page, but they can respond to or delete comments posted by others, send Messages, create Ads and view the Page Insights. Advertisers can only create ads or view insights, and Insight analysts can only view the Page’s insights.
Facebook does not place a limit on the number of Administrators each Page can have, but law firms should be very selective when assigning the Manager role, as they essentially have control over all of the Page’s other Administrators.
Finally, the firm can choose whether it would like to ‘feature’ its Administrators on the Page or keep their identities private. If the firm chooses to ‘feature’ its Administrators, their personal information will be visible in the About section of the Firm’s Page, and the Page will be shown on their personal Facebook profile.
To feature an Administrator, click on Edit Page, then Update Info. In the left column, click on Featured and then Add Featured Page Owners, and select the names of the Administrators you wish to Feature. To change this setting later, follow the same steps to return to the Featured settings and click on Edit Featured Page Owners.
Make sure your Page Administrators, particularly those who are designated as Managers, understand Facebook privacy and security – if their individual Facebook accounts are compromised, the hacker could also compromise your firm’s Page, not only by making changes to the Page and its settings, but also by changing or removing the firm’s designated Page Administrators.
If you want to learn more about how lawyers can use Facebook effectively, take a look at Facebook in One Hour for Lawyers.
