Considering that Facebook boasts more than 500 million active users (I'm not sure how they define active), is it more effective to have a Facebook page than an RSS feed?

The scenario is this...

1. You have a blog, and you're trying to build your subscriber base.


2. Your blog has an RSS feed, and on your blog is a "Subscribe to Our Feed" form where users can have new posts delivered to them via e-mail.


3. You're having trouble getting enough people to subscribe.

So how about this solution instead: set up a Facebook page for your blog, and get people to "Like" your page.

From what I'm seeing thus far, Facebook users are more willing to "like" a page than they are willing to submit their e-mail address for an RSS feed. You use this Facebook page to post links to your newest blog articles, hence it works like an RSS feed.

Facebook pages are also interactive as opposed to RSS feeds. Every link or status update you post to your Facebook page can host a discussion via Comments, whereas RSS feeds cannot. That allows your readers to build a relationship with you.

But while Facebook boasts 500 million active users, obviously not everyone is on Facebook. It's still worth your while to keep that RSS feed going, considering it won't cost you any money or labor to publish one.

And RSS feeds can host ads that generate revenue for you, while Facebook pages cannot.

But I'm of the opinion that using a Facebook page to announce your newest blog posts is actually more effective than an RSS feed.  ✓