FACEBOOK ACTOR PAGES: ARE THEY STILL RELEVANT IN 2026?

"Make a Facebook Page for your Acting career".

The advice given by the then head of Acting to the students of HND Acting & Performance at Aberdeen College in North East Scotland. I never studied that particular course but I had many friends that did. And around about the same time, all of my friends sent me the dreaded "FRIENDNAME has invited you to like their page, FRIENDNAME - Actor".

I cannot remember exactly how many of these pages I ended up liking and joining, but they were all the same thing: Firstname Lastname - Actor, a B&W headshot taken by a photography student and some pictures of them in their blackbox theatre. I definitely remember thinking at the time, "damn that looks slick, wish I had one". Alas, I was a TV Production student at the time, and we never got those. Fast forward 6 years later and I found myself training at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and I said "YES, now is my chance!"

I immediately hopped on Facey-Bee and forged it in steel as was my given birthright and my Facebook friends were greeted to the notification: "Brian Maitland has invited you to like their page, Brian Maitland - Actor". About 200 of them accepted the invite and I was well on my way to acting fame. 200 people are ready to hit like and share whatever and whenever I upload. How wrong I was...

People DID like some of my content, but these were my friends. These weren't casting directors or new people discovering my work for the first time. Sure my ex fling from down the hall liked the video of me attempting to sing Santa Fe but how useful was that going to be for my career? And here lies the issue with Facebook pages for actors.

WHO ARE FACEBOOK ACTOR PAGES ACTUALLY FOR?

Actors right? No, I mean who are they for? Media gets uploaded to be consumed, interacted with and shared with. So, who is the audience for a Facebook actor page? Well, let's consider a few factors.

CASTING DIRECTORS?

This WOULD be the obvious answer, right? Let's consider how Casting Directors interact with online platforms. In the UK, CDs primarily use Spotlight to find their cast. There are other platforms, including The Mandy Network or Backstage and Casting Directors will also look here at times too. There are tens of thousands of performers across these platforms, all of which have been designed with CDs accessibility in mind.

They can find showreels, credits and bios in a standardised format. No need to do heavy digging; all the information they need is there. Facebook pages are not that. Media is displayed in a chronological list, a mishmash of pictures, videos and status updates. And most of the time, these pages have a link to someone's Spotlight or Mandy profile anyway.

ACTING COMMUNITY GROUPS?

Plenty of us, I'm sure are on groups like "Actors UK", "UK Actors" or "Casting Calls UK" etc. Great groups and you need a Facebook profile to access the casting calls that occasionally get posted there. Some might think you need an actors page to complement any application you make to groups like these.

Maybe once upon a time you did. But with Spotlight and Mandy profiles more accessible to the masses, most members respond to casting calls with their various online CVs anyway, rendering Facebook pages obsolete.

GRANDPARENTS?

I won't beat around the bush much longer. The kids left Facebook when my generation stopped being children. No one posts status updates anymore, no one's sharing their Starbucks order. When my Grandma was still alive (may she rest in peace), she enjoyed my Facebook Actor Page updates.

Really? They were for her more than anything. My Grandma had no weight in the casting world, but she couldn't access any performances in London or see me sing or act in the way I could when I lived in Northern Scotland. When she passed, that was about 90% of my active audience gone.

Facebook is the environment of predominantly 30+ year olds, still using messenger to interact with relatives. In a way, it is a casual LinkedIn these days. We are mostly all professionals now. Instead of posting about a wild night out in The Garage (nightclub) after having 2 pints of beer, we are occasionally posting about various promotions or having our own children. Truth be told, the masses' relationship with Facebook is very different. We don't use it to discover new content or find the next best thing. We as a society have moved on when it comes to entertainment.

WHAT SHOULD WE DO INSTEAD?

Honestly? Keep the Facebook page. It's a nice relic that I'm sure you can share to your kids or as a screenshot when you accept an award! Social Media is an ever-evolving beast, and one that you need to keep on top of.

Actors and Social Media' is an education group led by actors who have utilised their social media following to gain traction in their performing arts careers. Our aim is to share our current social media expertise with students. We currently offer our workshops to Drama Schools and Further Education Colleges in the UK.

I have coached people (Actors and Non-Actors) into realigning their social media strategy into ways that can benefit their careers as performance artists. If you are an Actor/Performer interested in improving your social media, then feel free to send me an email at brianantonimaitland@gmail.com.