ALKHOBAR: Personality cults and hero worship are nothing new, but in this Internet Age such “fanaticism” can rise to new heights. Around the world, 100 million people are now using the social networking site Facebook. The site offers a feature known as “Pages” to connect people with brands and famous people. Olympian Michael Phelps has a Facebook Page boasting more than a million and a half fans. Barack Obama has that many fans, too.

Lately, public figures from the Arab World have appeared on Facebook Pages. Dr. Khaled Al-Sultan, the rector of King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals has a fan page at www.facebook.com/pages/DrKhaled-Al-Sultan/36531756488 . So does Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and the Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum. In fact numerous Gulf royals have Facebook Pages. None list fan numbers approaching those of top Western celebrities and politicians. That can be embarrassing. What if the Smurfs have more fans than your head of state?

According to Facebook’s rules, only the official representative of an artist, business or brand may create a Facebook Page. It’s easy to tell that some Facebook Pages have been set up by individuals who clearly couldn’t possibly be the official representative of the Page’s subject. For example the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has several fan pages, as does the Prophet Isa (pbuh). Facebook claims that it will remove pages that impersonate individuals or entities but that policy appears to lack enforcement.

Much of Facebook is open only to members, but Pages are publicly viewable so people searching for a particular artist or company on the Internet will find the Page’s Facebook presence and be able to view that Page’s photo and basic information. In order to view a Page in its entirety, become a fan of a Page, and engage with a Page, the individual must join Facebook.

Fans should be aware that there have been some incidents over the past few months where companies have used the names and photos of fans in marketing campaigns without permission of the selected individual. Entities setting up Pages should note that it’s impossible to ban a fan from a page, although blocking them from posting offensive content is allowed. Unfortunately, that means waiting until they post something nasty and then acting.