The reality is Facebook is not your private diary.

In reports one and two, The Facebook Friends Experiment established the reasons to build a bigger audience for your brand and how to begin adding friends.

Now That I’ve Got More Friends, How Do I Interact With Them?

Chances are that once you’ve built a large friend base, that you may not know your new Facebook friends very well.  Here are a couple of tips to stay interactive and approachable:

• Post a new status update every day but no more than 3 times a day.  Status update is a great way to let people know what you’re doing or how you feel about something benign, i.e. current movie.  Post a question to get a polled response!  Don’t post what you had for lunch, please!  Do post where you had lunch and if you liked the restaurant.  Don’t post your political views, do post on solutions to political policies.  Be you…but don’t slam the door on people who have differing opinions.
• Facebook loves to notify you of other people’s birthdays.  Take advantage of this by wishing them well on their special day.  If you are at a loss for what to say, keep it to a simple “Happy Birthday!”
• Respond to others’ statuses. Try to set a goal of commenting on something interesting that one of your newfound friends says at least one a day.  Keep it light and fun, or pose a question.  Sincere flattery always works well.
• Don’t fritter away your time playing games.  Remember you are on Facebook to build your social network, not to waste time. Get on, do your thing, move on.  Set yourself a time limit of 10 minutes…then get back to work.

But I Want Facebook To Be Somewhere I Can Let Loose!

The truth of the Internet today is that nothing you say online is private.  Employers are checking Facebook accounts before they hire prospective employees.  By remembering Facebook is only one more tool to present your best business face, you will not only gain respect from your Facebook friends, you will create a legacy of integrity in communication with others.  Facebook is not a diary or a place to air your dirty laundry about your past employer.  Be a person that people can rely on to be even keeled and not a hothead.  High tempers and diva attitudes get old real fast.

If you want your Facebook to be your private place, that’s okay, too.  This report is to help those that want to take advantage of social media to do so.  Remember that Facebook allows fan pages, which you may find works better for your business.  Also, Mashable.com released a report on adding a Facebook like button to your web pages to increase views, which can be another way to keep Facebook handy but not entirely personal.  Darren Rowse of ProBlogger fame originally added friends to his Facebook account until he was at his friends limit (5000), whereupon he sent this message to unfriend everyone except family.  So, the friending technique in this report can be used until it doesn’t work for you anymore.  By that time, your business may be so popular you may not need it!

See Facebook Friends Experiment: Report Four to gain insight of the long-term goal:  promoting your business.