Facebook Changes, Ahoy

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Change is good, right? That depends on who you ask. On April 21—and like an April Fool’s Day prank 3 weeks too late—the creators of Facebook pushed through several changes to their system and revamped the way Facebook users interact. If your company has a presence on Facebook, you’re probably scratching your head and trying to put it all together. Let’s take a look at these changes in general and what they mean for your business.

No more fans. Only “likes”. The biggest change that rolled out is the dissolution of “fans” on Facebook, only to be replaced by a button to “like” a particular company page. The mechanic is still the same—your posts show up in visitors’ news feeds—but the Facebook creators wanted a more casual way to connect people with groups. What does this mean for your page? Verbage such as “Become a Fan!” is already outdated, and could sound stale in the coming months. Think about updating your company webpage and print materials if you’re using them to drive customers to your page.

Overhaul to Facebook Connect. An aggressive integration of Facebook into many third-party websites, such as CNN.com and others, means you can now tag an article and share it with associates—without logging in. This is good news if you have dynamic content such as articles or a blog on your very own site, as it’s now easier to gain exposure on personal Facebook pages in a method akin to Twitter’s.

The nuts and bolts. The boys running the show at Facebook shrunk the size of custom tabs on business pages from 760 to 520 pixels—meaning if you sport a custom setup, things may be off. Also, welcome with open arms Facebook’s real-time search, which makes posts searchable to search engines like Google. Very nice for companies seeking better exposure through social media.