Yesterday Facebook launched a completely new version of Pages, to help you “manage communication, express yourself, and increase engagement”.
There are three significant changes to Facebook Pages (in addition to several minor changes):
- Login as Page or Profile – You can now toggle between being logged in as a Profile or logged in as a Page. When logged in as a Page, you can comment and like content on other Pages as a Page. A single username and password is all that’s required for both modes.
- New layout mirrors Profiles - Pages now have the same layout as Profiles. The tabs at the top of Pages are now located in the left-hand sidebar, under the main avatar. You can also feature your favorite Pages on the left, and recent photos and information about your organization at the top (where tabs were located).
- More relevance – Facebook Pages now have an “Everyone” filter on the wall that displays content in order of relevance. Content that a user’s friends have interacted with, followed by posts that have received the most feedback are displayed – with the most relevant content at the top.
How to toggle between “Page” and “Profile”
One of the biggest changes for Page admins is the ability to toggle between “Profile” mode and “Page” mode (if you admin multiple Pages, you’d be prompted to choose one Page to login as).
But why would you want to be logged in as a Page?
Being logged in as a Page allows you to “like” other Pages, comment on other Pages, comment or like content on other Pages – all done as a Page! This means that you can create more exposure for your nonprofit in ways that Facebook users are familiar with (instead of tagging Pages). This also means you have to be more careful about coming across as “spam”.
Pages now have their own News Feed
When logged in as a Page, you can view a News Feed that displays “Top News” or “Most Recent” activity from other Pages you’ve liked. And as in Profile mode, you can also comment on and like any content in the news feed (you will not see any activity from your Facebook friends – only Pages).
What this means for your non-profit is that you can now nurture strategic relationships with other brands and organizations. Think cause marketing and collaboration!
Commenting on other Pages as a Page
Commenting on other Pages is as easy as toggling over to Page mode (outlined above), and commenting on Pages you’ve liked.
Commenting or liking content posted by other Pages
In Page mode, you can also engage with content on another Page’s wall in the same way Profiles can. Note: Pages cannot comment on Profile walls unless the profile’s privacy settings are wide open – ”
Viewing recent Page activity
In Page mode, you’ll notice that the updates number (on the Globe icon) shows the most recent activity on your Page.
Getting email notifications on Page updates
Last week you read about Hyper Alerts – new tool that with the “feature that Facebook forgot”. But Facebook Pages now have this feature. Simply log into your Page and go to “Your Settings”.
New Page layout and Static FBML demise
Pages now have the same layout as Profiles. However, there are three ways the new layout impacts Pages:
- Avatar: Having an avatar that’s 600 px tall used to be a great use of real estate, but now that height pushes your tabs further down.
- Featured photos: Your featured photos displayed across the top, need some creative attention.
- Tab widths: Custom tab widths have now been reduced from 520 pixels down to 492 pixels (Update: This is a confirmed bug, Page widths will continue to be 520px).
- Static FBML is being retired on March 11th – replaced by iFrames.
A completely unrelated but curious fact is that when logged in as a Page, you’ll now see your own Profile as a non-friend would.
The Facebook Page “Everyone” filter
The new “Everyone” filter makes it easier for users to find the most relevant, “liked” and commented content on a particular page. Relevance appears at the top of the wall and has to do with what a user’s friends have liked. This is followed by content that has the highest feedback.
The Nonprofit Facebook guy will have video tutorials
These epic Facebook Page changes couldn’t have come at a better time!
I’ve been developing a free “Facebook Jumpstart” video course for The Nonprofit Facebook Guy (due out in March), and have also been creating advanced course material at Charityhowto.
As a way to kick things off, this weekend I’ll publish a detailed video tutorial on using the new Facebook Pages (stay tuned here).
![[Free Webinar] Facebook for Executive Staff](http://www.johnhaydon.com/wp-content/themes/headway-2013/media/cache/images/eplus-post-18286-leaf-164.png)
![Facebook Edgerank Explained by Batman and Robin [Infographic]](http://www.johnhaydon.com/wp-content/themes/headway-2013/media/cache/images/eplus-post-18091-leaf-164.gif)
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rajeev Edmonds, Richard A Marti Jr, Richard A Marti Jr, Dave Charest, WorkAtHomeMalaysia and others. WorkAtHomeMalaysia said: Everything You Need To Know About Facebook’s Epic Upgrade To Pages http://goo.gl/QCN0U by @JohnHaydon [...]
Really helpful rundown of the new changes, John. A couple of notes:
* I’m *already* seeing examples of spam with Pages commenting on other Pages. The Starbucks Wall was quickly filling up with that last night, for example. (It looks like the posts have been moderated out, since). I think this just underscores the continued importance of diligent, human moderation!
* I’ve seen several reports that the reduction in width of tabs from 520 > 490 pixels is a glitch rather than the new normal.
Bryan. Thanks for the update on tabs. I’ll keep an eye out as well.
Bryan – HyperArts and FanPageEngine confirmed the page width bug.
When I see pages comment on my pages that are out of sync, I delete those posts. Administrator right.
And, Bryan, I’ve heard FB is working on increasing that size.
Looks like FaceBook is really trying to make your experience on their site noticeable. They are going very far to keep people on their site..smart move Facebook
“Black Seo Guy “Signing Off”
Agreed
Hey John,
Couple things I’ve noticed. You can’t do much with the photo banner since they appear in random order. Haven’t found a way to change that. Also, the landing page is gone, at least for NPs. Note that you must Like a page as a page before you can interact with them as a page. This I don’t like because I have a select number of ‘Favorite Pages’ I want to promote and don’t want them to get lost in all the other pages I like. I know you can feature pages, but this won’t work for me.
Static FBML retiring? I’ve never seen a software company who simply didn’t care to support what’s already created out there. Why would anyone invest time and effort when they keep changing the rules? Frustrating for sure.
Gabe – two things:
You can remove photos from the photo banner.
Your favorite Pages are now Pages that your Page has liked – not your profile. I know it’s confusing.
I know you can remove the photos. That’s not what I want. I want to create an effect a la your personal page. Can’t do it b/c for some reason they come up in random order for the pages. If you have hundreds of pics it also is impossible to select the ones for the banner. This is a no-brainer that I would hope they will address soon.
I wonder if using http://www.facebook.com/ProfileMakerApp would help? It seems to only work with Profiles…
Don’t think so. That just helps you create the images. On a personal profile the images are static which would make it work but for some reason they are randomized for pages.
I noticed that as well.
Umm, one can like a page as a page or as a profile, John.
Yup
Excellent info! Thank you for sharing!
I always disable email notifications because I want to reduce incoming messages to my gmail inbox. I’d rather get a notification on Facebook. But with the recent rollout of Facebook email addresses, e.g. I’m at ariherzog@facebook.com, why does Facebook prevent me from changing my notification email address from @gmail to @facebook? Where’s the logic?
Yeah – I don’t see the logic in that.
Thats the exact same thing we were wondering. Doesn’t make much sense. One thing we were wondering was if emails for pages was on the horizon. Might be interesting but also just might be one more email account folks have to check.
I wish the email notifications worked, but they’re not working for me. Hopefully they’re still working through the kinks and this will be corrected soon.
Good point about the photo thing pushing the tabs down!
They seem to work for me…
Thanks a lot! How do I enable “When logged in as a Page, you can view a News Feed that displays “Top News” or “Most Recent” activity from other Pages you’ve liked.”? I don’t see that option…and also, more on Ari’s q — even if I can’t set it up to notify the@facebook email, why can’t I set it up to inform my work email? Why even ask me for that address? Thanks!
Hi John.
Nice summary here. I loved the new Facebook Fan Page. Yeah a couple of things is a little confusing still. But we will figure that out.
I thought it was nifty with the new slide that your photo tab gives you. If you click on one of the photo’s on the Fan Page wall you get this cool slideshow of them. So might make us think a little how we present our photo’s.
Also when you hit the [View All Comments] – Comments shows up on a new page. Really cool.
I think it is really streamline, and awesome.
Cheers.. Are
A slideshow is a great idea!
I meant the Fan Page Wall pics actually shows in a slideshow when you click on one of them. But a slideshow of all the changes would be cool!
I did see some talk about that we should start looking into converting FBML to iFrame, do you know anything about this? or is this just a rumor..
And I am sure if we can convert that I will see a savvy tutorial here
Cheers.. Are
No, it’s official. Static FBML will be gone on 3/11.
Am loving the email notifications.
This is great, thanks John, people often get confused, and these changes should make it easier for them…as always your detail is great, will be looking forward to the videos.
Thanks, Reiko!
On my old page I was able to “create an event” — I can’t find figure out how to do that on our group’s new page. And I can’t figure out how to get rid of an old event.
I actually just know that the page can now be updated to look like the profile, what I didn’t know was that you can login as a page already, maybe I didn’t look enough. But this post has really explained the change regarding pages in detail and it is very timely. Now at least I understand the change better and I think I like it. Thanks.
Anytime!
John, totally awesome overview! Sharing it with our clients and peers.
Other than the decrease in height for the profile pic, we were planning to do a little blog post on the design ramifications of this. One specific thing that is exciting is how we can now use the facebook profile pic hack on pages.
Yes, but the order of the featured pics on Pages updates randomly, whereas on a Profile, they don’t.
John, thanks for the great info!
Anytime!
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Hey cuz. You da man! This has been very helpful for me. Cheers.
Hey Mike! Glad it helped.
I know we’re related somehow – some great, great, great grandpa.
Hey cuz. You da man! This has been very helpful for me. Cheers.
[...] To learn more about the good and bad of Facebook's new Pages go to John Haydon's excellent post. [...]
[...] Everything You Need To Know About Facebook’s Epic Upgrade To Pages The ability to comment on other Facebook Pages as your Page came about in February 2011. John Haydon covers these changes and shows you how to comment as your Page on another Page which can increase your visibility. [...]
[...] Everything You Need To Know About Facebook’s Epic Upgrade To Pages ?The ability to comment on other Facebook Pages as your Page came about in February 2011. John Haydon covers these changes and shows you how to comment as your Page on another Page which can increase your visibility. [...]
[...] Everything You Need To Know About Facebook’s Epic Upgrade To Pages [...]