The Facebook “Get Started” Tab  
by Jessica Harris - 1 Comment, Last updated 02/10/2012

With Facebook’s upcoming $5 billion dollar IPO, they must figure that they can do anything they want (like they didn’t before?). Of course, now that they will have stockholders they are going to have to focus even more on earning money, more than anything else, and of course they do that on the backs of their users. Because of that, you’d think that they would want to keep their users happy, but lately it seems to be the last thing on their mind; even when users are outraged in numbers over a particular issue.

If you have created a new Facebook fan page within the last year, you’ve probably noticed the annoying new tab labeled, “Get Started”. You might have also noted that this tab will not go away, despite carrying out some of the suggestions that this tab offers. This is apparently Facebook’s attempt to help you make your new page more successful. The problem is that this tab does not appear to go away if you do not follow all of the suggestions, including syncing your Twitter account and your mobile phone.

While some newbies may find this useful, those who are seasoned in creating new Facebook pages find it frustrating. Others who are not seasoned in it are not thrilled that Facebook is insisting they link their Twitter and/or mobile phone numbers to their fan page because there is no obvious way to hide this from public view. In fact this has Facebook users hopping mad! Comments about it include things like:

“The getting started tab is very annoying and FB seems to have ignored all inquiry’s and seems to not be at least making comments to ease the frustrations of their users. “We have heard your comments and we are working to fix” it would be nice to see. PLEASE GET RID OF THAT TAB!!!”

“I’m now having the problem that even if i complete them all it is not disappearing i wish facebook would just get rid of it all together its pissing me off!”

Some are reporting that this unwelcome tab will disappear once the page obtains a certain amount of “likes,” but there doesn’t seem to be a definitive amount of “likes” needed to get rid of the tab. Some say that the tab goes away if you run a Facebook ad. Either way, no one seems to know definitively and Facebook appears to be staying quiet on the whole situation. If you have come across this dreaded tab, you do have the option of joining a group who is gunning to get Facebook to take notice of the frustration that this tab is causing. If you would like to be a part of this movement, or chat with others who are equally as frustrated with this tab, you can join the I will not use “Getting Started” tab on my business page, please remove group.