I definitely fit into the grouping of people who were pleasantly surprised by this yesterday! I have to say it's about time, and you do raise some good simple usability issues with their emails. It would be great if Facebook would develop something that would work similar to Google Analytics or something so we can create more custom "real time" analysis on the performance on our business pages. Especially for those marketers who have multiple business pages that they manage like myself! :)

You don't see Google giving you a FREE report do you? Stop your crying and negative comments. You could have taken a more positive approach and made constructive suggestions.

I just started my first, real facebook page this week; so, I didn't realize the weekly email was unique. I agree that it was a pleasant surprise; however, I am in full agreement that the data provided by facebook is weak and weakly-presented. 
 
First of all, it would be helpful to have a count of visits by non-administrative visitors. First week=lots of visits by me to see how the fan count was progressing. 
 
Although not directly related to the blog post, I'm a little disappointed with how long it takes to get ads approved and how long it takes to start seeing data on clicks, impressions, and conversions. I don't see any reason why all this data shouldn't be available more quickly and in a better format.

The email is not anything that I do not already know if I'm interacting with my page every day or so anyway. If I waited a whole week to know this much info, I'd be failing at my job of managing this page. Maybe administrators of larger pages (mine is currently only at 1600 fans) or administrators of several pages find it really helpful. I just have to be more "hands on" than once a week. 
 

Yes- what a pleasant surprise this was. Now Facebook has really given an incentive for business pages. I guess it will also drive their ad business up as well, but who is going to complain?

You CAN use Google Analytics for your Facebook Page. 
Directions and even a tool to run the code through to be Facebook code compatible. 
http://www.facebook.com/VirtualBusinessSolutions/posts/376201943210

I'd have to say that while I was initially pleasantly surprised as well, I felt something was a bit off - and you hit the nail on the head Kipp. Having data is great, but without some actionable info it goes right to the trash bin for me - as Kelly mentioned, people that are truly engaged with their fan pages should already realize those numbers anyways. For now, at least Facebook is heading in the right direction and stepping up the perks of having a fan page.

It was great. Once a week is plenty. I am in the camp of stop whining and be happy. And I like free a lot.

Hi Laura. Thanks for giving us that information. I had no idea, although I use Google Analytics regularly

I'd like to see their business Facebook ads be able to automatically send out invoices instead of having to always log in to do it manually.

How do you use google analytics with facebook? Is there a tutorial somewhere?

I think it is a great add. A friend shared his report with me yesterday. Immediately, I wondered if it was legitimate because of the email account it was sent from and the presentation of the email. It just didn't seem like something Facebook would send out. There have also been a number of viruses on Facebook so that made me wary. Having said, if this is legitimate, I think is definitely a value add and cuts down on some of the work for those of us managing multiple pages. I agree with your point however that there is an opportunity for Facebook to add a service, hopefully for a nominal fee :), that provides more robust statistics.

I enjoyed getting the e-mail for a client fan page this morning - I think it will be helpful in compiling weekly SM status reports for clients, but agree with other comments that you should have a pretty good idea about the activity on your page if you check it regularly. 
 
As for expecting anything 'fancy' from Facebook, let's be honest their update e-mails have always been ugly and full of text and lengthy URLs. I wish it was prettier/more user friendly too, but hey, you win some you lose some right?

I wonder if that include administrator visits?

I love the idea of this email. I have a business page in FB but I never got the email. Anyone know why?? Thanks for letting us know about this! 
 
 
 
Corinne @ Bagalicious

I had just mentioned to a colleague that I wish FB would update us when changes are made to our pages. A few days later, the email arrived. I was so excited to see it! I want to use that weekly email as a reminder to stop doing whatever I'm doing and INTERACT with my fans! Kelly, your point is well taken. I should already know that info. The reason I don't is that I forget to make it a priority.

These stats came almost too late since some developers even offer google analytics for my clients.

I thought the email from Facebook was spam the first time I looked at it. I am glad to get some kind of report about my page, so thank you Facebook.

I got mine yesterday as well. It made me happy. Not sure why.

@Daniel Sinclair I thought it was spam that got through as well and deleted it. Luckily I saw this article and went back to retrieve it.  
 
Anyone who keeps up with their page daily should know the stats. I agree that it needs more but it is a great start.

When I saw this e-mail come through the first time I almost immediately dismissed it as a phishing scam of some sort. 
 
However, I'm glad they're doing this. It's nice to get weekly snapshots of the pages' performances.

Like someone else said: I thought it was spam. 
 
 
 
Thinking they should have sent out some kind of an announcement that this was coming.

I had been starting to lose touch with my Facebook business page as Twitter has become my main platform. A great way to bring wayward Facebook users like myself back into the fold and keep FB in the forefront of my social media saturated mind. I'll be eagerly anticipating my weekly report from now on.

Corinne @ Bagalicious: A possible reason that you did not get the email is because you have your email notifications switched off.  
 
 
 
Account/Account settings/Notifications/Pages/Weekly update for admins ... need to tick that option.

Thanks, Eleanor, but I just checked and I DO have the weekly option turned on for pages. I'll keep an eye out for the next one. Maybe it's gong to my spam folder. Thanks again!

Agreed with previous commenters that it was a nice gesture but contained information we as page admins should already know courtesy of the insights feature--which does need some work.  
As the page administrator for one of my clients, what frustrates me the most is that Facebook won't "ping" me whenever someone comments on one of "my" posts or the posts of another fan. That feature would do wonders for monitoring. Since it's available for personal profile pages I wonder why it was disabled on fan pages.