Facebook – How to See the Author of a Page Post

I was just researching this exact same question for a client. I work primarily with authors and speakers, and this question comes up a lot. Here are the key things to note.

When you migrate a profile to a page:

• you do lose the old profile. You have to create a new profile for your personal use. But if the idea is to clean up the profile, starting with a clean slate isn't a bad thing!
• only your profile pictures and friends/subscribers are transferred over to the page. So, backup your content if you have any interest in saving it. It won't be accessible later.
• other than the new likes and a profile picture, your new page is blank. Once again, not a bad issue. Just start creating content. At least you'll be off to a great start with the following.
• if your profile is the admin for any groups or apps, assign new admins before you migrate.
• if you have a username specified for your profile (otherwise known as a "vanity URL"), it will be applied to the new page instead. FB does not allow you to change the username of a page with more than 200 "likes," so depending on how many people are friends, you may not be able to update the username of the page.
• from what I can piece together, the name of the new page (the page title) is based on the profile name. Therefore, Joe Schmoe's profile will be displayed as "Joe Schmoe" for the page title. At least that's my guess. So, if you want a different title, change your profile name before you update the account. The first name could be "Joe Schmoe's" and the last name "Awesome New Facebook Page." You get the idea. I have to admit, I have not tried this out yet, but my guess is that it would work. Otherwise, to change a page title, you have to put in a special request with Facebook, and they're not very responsive about it.
• the newsfeed of your new page will be blank because you haven't "liked" any other pages yet.
• some people may be put off by becoming a fan when they thought they were your friend (think old high school classmates, family members, etc.). So, anticipate a drop-off in "likes" soon after the conversion.

Know that making a page is definitely the right answer. You need to be in conformance with Facebook's terms of agreement, otherwise, you risk them shutting your account down. But there are other reasons for it too. For instance, Google indexes pages, but not profiles. In addition, pages allow much more functionality than profiles do, including adding apps for a mailing list, creating events, etc. I hope this helps!

While I'm not familiar with the specifics of Facebook and libel law (and am certainly not a lawyer), Facebook will really only be willing to intervene if this situation is subject to some form of legal liability (vis-a-vis defamation I would imagine - you can see the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Online Defamation Law for case examples).

If this is the situation, law enforcement or government entities associated with legal proceedings pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2703 and 2711 may request access to records from Facebook. According to Facebook's Law Enforcement Online Requests

Request Secure Access to the Law Enforcement Online Request System

Facebook discloses account records solely in accordance with our terms of service and applicable law.

If you are a law enforcement agent who is authorized to gather evidence in connection with an official investigation, you may request records from Facebook through this system.

See Facebook's Law Enforcement Guidelines for more detail about specific scenarios and US Legal Process Requirements (or international, depending on your location).

Since this problem applies specifically to your Facebook Page you may also want to see the Facebook Pages Terms of Service.

Also note that the specifics may vary according to your state law.