What is a Facebook Profile?

Definition: A Facebook profile is an individual's personal account, where he or she can post updates, upload photos, share videos, maintain a friends list and provide personal information. Though "profile" is often used to refer to the page of both personal or professional accounts, businesses have Facebook "Pages" which offer advertising features.

How Profiles and Pages differ

Pages have the same basic social functionality as profiles: create posts, leave comments, upload photos, and more. The primary difference is that Pages have followers while profiles have friends. Pages can invite users to follow their page as a fan.

Profiles are for intended strictly for individual people only and are meant for non-commercial purposes. In fact, to use one for commercial gain is a violation of Facebook's terms of service and can get the account suspended.

Pages, by contrast, resemble profiles, but are meant for businesses and organizations. Pages can run Facebook ads and promotions. Pages must be affiliated with at least one profile, so for business owners uninitiated to Facebook, creating a personal profile is a prerequisite. However, Facebook allows users to convert your profile into a page, which will carry over all of your followers and friends.