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by Stephanie Bishop on 4.29.2010 in Interactive Marketing, Marketing Consulting 0

Whether or not you’re on Facebook, considering opening an account, or totally opposed to the number one social networking site, I’m sure most of you have at least heard about the recent changes the platform has made. And if not, no worries, I’ll fill you in now.

In the past couple weeks, Facebook has been making several announcements including fans becoming “likes,” profile connections, community pages and privacy for connections.

So what do these changes mean, and how do they affect you?

Breaking these changes down into the four categories mentioned above, I will discuss and hopefully provide better insight as to how you can still maintain your privacy, while accepting the changes.

“Liking” a Page

Change: Instead of “Becoming a Fan” of a page, Facebook users can now “Like” a page.

According to Facebook, “To improve your experience and promote consistency across the site, we’ve changed the language for Pages from “Fan” to “Like.” We believe this change offers you a more light-weight and standard way to connect with people, things and topics in which you are interested.”

What this means for you: Well, nothing really. The main change is that the “Fan” button now says “Like”. For those with Fan Pages, all insights will remain the same. It’s just a matter of getting used to the different wording.

Profile Connections

Change: On individual profile pages under “Info”, instead of being able to fill out the information manually, the social site is now starting to have users “connect.”

What this means for you:  No longer having the option to simply fill out the fields including current city, hometown, education, work and interests. Instead, you may be asked to connect to Pages that Facebook has matched to the information you’ve previously included.

Facebook notes that individuals will always be able to build out profiles by clicking “Edit My Profile” underneath your profile picture or by “liking” the pages that interest you.

These connections are still the works, and it’s unclear whether or not this will be mandatory for all Facebook users. But, if you start noticing the site trying to get you to “connect” after logging in or editing, well, now you know why.

Community Pages

Change: A new type of Page that allows you to see what others are saying about your interests is a Community Page. What’s the difference between a Community Page and a regular Page? Facebook states, “They are similar to any other Page to which you can connect, although they won’t generate stories in your News Feed, and won’t be maintained by a single author.”

What this means for you:  Along the same lines as the new profile connections, these Community Pages are what your friends see when connecting to interests provided by Facebook. Community Pages should be viewed as a collection of shared knowledge on topics that interest you – either from Wikipedia content, or content provided from others with the same interest and connections.

Privacy for Connections

Change: On April 23, Facebook announced Instant Personalization, in which select websites (as of now, Pandora, Microsoft Docs and Yelp) would “personalize your experience using your public Facebook information.”

For instance, users logged into Facebook and then Pandora can now “Like” certain bands and songs, which will then feed that info into their and their friends’ news feeds.

Additionally more privacy controls have been added to help limit which sections of your profile are visible to whom, as well as the information you share with friends, which they could then share with others.

What this means to you: To opt-out of the new Instant Personalization, simply go to your privacy settings, select “Applications and Websites”, then click on “Instant Personalization Pilot Program” and edit setting.

To completely opt-out of each Instant Personalization website, you need to go to each website’s page and block the application. For more info and further instructions, click here.

A lot of people may not realize that the information they share with friends can then be shared with other third party applications and websites. To view and change these settings, go under “Account” then “Privacy Settings” followed by “Applications and Websites.” Once you’re in those settings, you will see the option to edit, “What our friends can share about you.” From there, it’s up to you to decide what to share with others.

Despite confusion regarding the recent updates and changes Facebook has recently rolled out, individuals and businesses are still able to control their privacy settings and what others can see about them. Staying up-to-date on all social network platform changes will help keep you informed and allow you to make the changes necessary to keep you in control of your own pages.

For more information, check out Facebook’s FAQ section or feel free to leave comments with questions, and someone from the Online Marketing team will get back to you.

Happy Social Networking!

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