The African Activist Archive Project has just started a Facebook page, and we’d like some advice.

 Here’s what you need to know about our mission: Our website (http://africanactivist.msu.edu) is an online archive with 4,700+ historical documents, buttons, posters, T-shirts, photographs, and audio and video created by organizations in 35 states and D.C. about anti-apartheid and Africa solidarity organizing generally from the 1950s to the 1990s. We’re going strong, having added 1,500 items in 2011; we aim to add another 1,000 items from local and national organizations in 2012.

 We started a Facebook page to (a) bring more traffic to the website from both formeractivists who might have material to add to the website and today’s activists who could be inspired by creative mobilizing by this movement, (b) let people know what’s new on the website, and (c) interact with our audiences. You can see that our audiences are people from early their early 20s into their 80s.

 We launched a Facebook page on January 2, 2012; 24 people Liked the page by January 6. (See: http://www.facebook.com/pages/African-Activist-Archive-Project/263578920843?sk=info) Soon we’ll sign up for a Facebook username and will put a “Follow us on Facebook” link on our website homepage. We’ve got 8 more posts scheduled for the next 2 weeks.

 We’d like your advice about several issues:

 1)     1. Should we add a default landing page (or welcome page)? If so, can you suggest some good and bad examples or good guidelines to follow? (Here is one example: http://www.facebook.com/sahistoryonline?sk=app_190322544333196)

 2)     2.  A number of people are Liking posts on the page but not liking the page itself. I gather this means they won’t receive future posts on the news feeds on their Facebook page. Can you help us understand how and why this happens and what we can do about it? What is the etiquette about communicating with these people (as a Facebook page or as individual administrators of the page) to invite them to Like the page?

3)      3. Is there a special approach to take for inviting Organization pages to Like our page? We have Liked 6 organizations so far. Any advice on how quickly we should build that up?

 4)     4.  We designated ourselves on Facebook as a “Cause” rather than “Organization,” mostly because of the topics to be addressed on the Info page. Maybe that’s not so important, though, and we don’t understand the consequences. Are there any negatives to being a “Cause” rather than “Organization”? Can we still change, if that would be smart?

 55 5. We would welcome any other advice about the Facebook page!