TabFusion’s new Facebook application for fan pages means users may not need to choose between sharing content on Facebook or Google Plus any longer.

In the latest installment of, “There’s an App for That,” drug companies might have a solution for both monitoring and engaging with Facebook fan page comments thanks to the software company Parature.

Parature happens to have a common investor in common with Facebook, Accel Partners, which explains how the monitoring software company got into social media.

Like we told you earlier this week, drug companies have been forced to either take down certain fan pages or monitor comments more carefully, following Facebook’s decision this week to open up walls to public comment.

Parature’s background lies in offering customer service software to major companies, such as the Washington Post.

But Accel suggested the creation of a Facebook fan page application that not only listens and monitors conversations but also enables engagement, said Jesse Sun, Parature’s senior director of sales.

How It Works

Here’s how it works. Clients tell the app which keywords or identifiable comments to flag on Facebook fan pages. A case file is then created; alternatively, the client can ask that every comment on a fan page create a case for reporting purposes.

Once a case is created, the company can decide whether to reply to the comment directly, thus creating a type of one-on-one dialogue with the fan, added Sun. Cases then create reports, so the solution offers listening, engagement and reporting functionality.

Parature’s Facebook clients include Cox Communications, Teleflora, Gatorade, Rosetta Stone and the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Information Technology.

Sun says that every U.S. embassy around the world has a fan page, and constituents increasingly turn to Facebook fan pages to ask everything from the status of their visa application to how they can enter a country legally.

Embassies felt obligated to reply but manually monitoring that type of activity on a global scale was daunting. So now it’s automated via Parature for Facebook.

While Parature currently has no drug companies as clients, it does work with a type 2 medical device manufacturer that was facing similar issues on Facebook

Do you think pharmaceutical companies should work with page monitoring software instead of leaving Facebook?

For every person who likes a page on Facebook, there are an average of 50 other friends who may be reached via advertising.
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After Captain Chesley Burnett Sullenberger made the first successful water airplane emergency landing without casualties in 45 years, he was deemed a national hero in the hearts of many across the world. This attitude has carried over into Facebook, as one thankful user has created a fan page for the pilot.

Last week, a flock of geese caused both engines of Captain Sullenberger’s US Airways Airbus A320, causing the pilot to need to make quick decisions regarding the safety of his 155 passengers on board. Just minutes after take-off from La Guardia airport, and reaching an altitude of only 3,200ft, Captain Sullenberger and his co-pilot Jeff Skiles registered the geese hitting the plane and realized an emergency landing was in order.
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