This is the last blog in a four-part series in which we review what Internet Retailer’s Top 4 (from IR’s Top 500 List) are doing on Facebook. Apple is considered IR’s #4, but when we tried to locate them on Facebook, we ran into a number of obstacles.
To see what we’re talking about, start by typing in www.facebook.com/apple. What we find there isn’t a terrible page at all, but the problem is that it’s not even Apple (well, not the world famous computer manufacturer anyway)! Most serious companies these days at least have rights to a custom branded url.
We suspect that most people would look for Apple by just typing in Facebook/apple, but Apple, it seems, has created 
their page under the custom url www.facebook.com/appleinc . The graphic to the right is what visitors to this page will see. And wow, there’s only a little more than 3000 fans who like that page.
Surely Apple could do better than that?!
As you can see by the screen shot on the left, the posts they’re making are barely even getting a few likes! They didn’t post once from July 16 through October 25, 2010, and even after that it’s been fairly sporadic…so sporadic, that we were wondering if this was an official page and posted this to their page: “Is this the official Apple FB site?” We’re not so convinced it is though…
There’s also another Apple Facebook site bobbing around out there. It’s listed under: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Apple-Inc/47520075235?sk=wall. If you try to reduce this url to read Facebook/AppleInc, Facebook takes you right back to the page mentioned in the previous paragraph.
This other Apple, seems a little more plausible as Apple’s official page, since it has 52, 915 fans, as opposed to 3,159, like the aforementioned one. But unlike, the aforementioned Apple, the last official post was made back on June 8th, 2010. Now the only posts seen there are from fans making comments or posting questions that go on unanswered. On the off chance that we would get a response, we posted: “Is this the official Apple FB page? If so, why doesn’t Apple post here?”
So, why did this Apple abandon its account, leaving its fans to fend for themselves? Did it switch over to the other Apple page without telling anyone? How will we ever know which Apple page is the official one?
Unless that “apple of knowledge” from the Garden of Eden is still being passed around, it seems we’ll never know. But what we can say is, unless you’re selling a product as awesome as a Mac, don’t try going on with business in the digital age without attending to your Facebook page(s).
Links to the Complete Four-part Series:
1) Analyzing Amazon’s Presence on Facebook
2) What Staples is Sticking to Facebook
3) How Dell Is Dealing With “Service Sucks” Comments on Facebook
4) Is Apple Having a Brand Identity Crises on Facebook?
