Facebook just launched their Facebook subscribe button. Which begs the question, what exactly is a Facebook subscribeFacebook subscribe button button. It is exactly what it sounds like. A way for people to subscribe to your news feed to learn your invaluable insights.

Why is this important?

This is the first time that Facebook has ever let non-friends have a real chance to see people’s news feeds. Yes, you could always make your posts public, like I do, but some people wanted to have a voice in who saw their posts on a regular basis. Also, these people would not see your posts on a recurring basis. The Facebook subscribe button also work a little more like Twitter and Google+ (Ahem! Surprise! Ahem! Copycat!) in that you can connect with people without them reciprocating.

For me it is something I would have liked to have seen a year ago when I maxed out on my Facebook friends (see Psychology of Facebook).  When I maxed out on friends I could have simply allowed new connections to subscribe to what I was doing. They could follow my blog posts and see the wonderful insights I have about social media. I think three people are now crying, because they lost out on a year of insights from me, myself, and I.  Anyways, I digress.

Intro Facebook Subscribe Button

This allows you to powerfully extend your social network on Facebook past your current circle of friends and still have ability to share your information.

Additionally, you also have the power to allow these people to get involved in the conversation by commenting. To me that is a great tool to encourage participation in your Facebook comments, so that you can have more and more viral communications with your social network.

Now, a disclaimer here. Larger is not always better, but if people actively choose to subscribe to your network then they are at some level interested in what you have to say. I consider that a potential client.

With this in mind, start taking a look at those who subscribe to you a little closer now, because this is a great tool to use for your business in social networking. It finally gives marketers the ability to spread past 5,000 connections without setting up a new fan page.

That in and of itself makes the Facebook subscribe button invaluable. The ability to make your network grow larger and more qualitative makes the Facebook subscribe button a very needed tool on Facebook.