facebookiconI just spotted this post over at MediaPost Publications thanks to @nonprofitorgs seems Facebook slipped out an announcement that in early 2010 they will be changing the way Facebook Brand Fan Pages operate and for some of you it's going to be very bad news!

 

I'll summarise the changes then delve into how it effects you.

  • The Boxes Tab is being removed - any content in the tab will be deleted!
  • Applications Tab is the new place to host customisations
  • Application tabs will be much smaller only 520px before it was 760px
  • Updates you post to your page will not automatically appear in fans streams
  • You can collect email addresses via your page (Big woop!)

The Boxes Tab is being removed

Facebook is killing off the Boxes Tab this is probably a good thing as it didn't really have much of a purpose anyway, it was very confusing having it there and 90% of the time you want to host an application in its own tab. If you have content in the Boxes tab you need to move it as when the tab is removed so will anything in it!

Applications Tab

Application tab makes sense and streamlines the user experience

The new smaller size of the application area is going to cause a lot of problems for charities ,you need to look at this urgently and see what you going to have to do to make your application fit this smaller size 520px. For many of you this is the worst part of the Facebook Page changes.

Page updates to fans streams

This next one is very interesting and is likely to have a big impact on orgs who aren't ready for it, when you post something to your page it will only appear in your fans streams based on interactions with that post. So likes, comments, shares and page views will be factored in when the system decides if its going to show that post in a fans stream.

I personaly think this is already in place now but I can't prove it

Collect email addresses from your Facebook Page

Facebook are going to make it really easy to collect email addresses via the Facebook Api. I have to say big step backwards this one but given Facebook have destroyed interactions with fans over the last few months this may be a welcome way to salvage some interactions and transfer them outside of Facebook.

Sadly this is a bad day for the charity / non-profit sector who have invested so much in their Facebook pages thus far and could end up causing more than a few charities to just give up on it as the cost of redevelopment out ways the return on investment.

All we can hope is that these changes have a positive impact in the long run, but right now it's difficult to see how any of this is great news in the short term.

{jb_greenbox}*Update - after a night thinking about it and speaking to some folks in NGO's around the world, the general feeling is not great but we can live with it, my initial thoughts on email collection were a bit pissy!{/jb_greenbox}

As @AskDebra tweets this could be great for smaller NGO's, but  for my mind there will be a cost / time requirement to setup the email collection on pages and a good E-newsletter service will make all the difference. All being well I will get a Tutorial up on the site to help you Do It Yourself when this feature is launched early in 2010