What is the difference between a Facebook "Fan Page" and an ordinary Facebook profile?

[Michael]

Is there really a difference between Facebook Fan pages and ordinary Facebook profiles? I constantly hear about Facebook "fan pages", but there are no references to the "Fan Page" on Facebook's site. However, there is the option to ad a page. Is this considered the "Fan Page" everyone's talking about? But there are several options. Are they all "Fan Pages" ?

[sk8erboi]

yes their is a big diffrence. on a fan page you are only alloud to do stuff on that fan page if you have a profile u are able to acsess many things on facebook such as games, and having friends!

[Moustafa]

Profiles represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook. You may only create Facebook Pages to represent real organizations of which you are an authorized representative.

In addition, Pages are managed by admins who have personal Facebook profiles. Pages are not separate Facebook accounts and do not have separate login information from your profile. They are merely different entities on our site, similar to how Groups and Events function. Once you have set up a Page within your profile, you may add other admins to help you manage this Page. People who choose to connect to your Page won't be able to see that you are the Page admin or have any access to your personal account.

Similar to profiles, Pages can be enhanced with applications that help the entity communicate and engage with their audiences, and capture new audiences virally through friend recommendations, News Feed stories, Facebook events, and beyond.