Facebook recently announced that it is rolling out a redesigned Facebook Pages experience with six new features. This newly redesigned layout makes it simpler for celebrities and creators to build community and achieve their business goals. The goals may include boosting a post, promoting an event, getting leads, or even encouraging people to shop for the products/services on their website via Facebook paid advertising.
6 Notable Changes for Facebook Pages
The notable changes made to Facebook Pages include:
- Redesigned layout with easy navigation
- Dedicated News Feed
- Updated task-based admin controls
- Actionable insights and more relevant notifications
- Q&A Format
- Safety and integrity features
Read more about these features in detail:
Redesigned Layout with Easy Navigation
Facebook has redesigned the Page’s layout with a simple and intuitive page design. The look and feel of the new layout are cleaner and more streamlined than before, as it now makes it simple for people to see bios, posts and other important information. However, to make it easier for admins to navigate between their personal profile and public Page, Facebook is now using a switcher, which now can be accessed by tapping on the three-line icon that appears on the bottom left of the main navigation bar.
Dedicated News Feed
For the first time, Pages will get their own News Feed which is separate from their personal feed, where the Page itself can discover and join conversations, follow trends, interact with peers and engage with fans. It will also suggest new connections such as other public figures, Pages, Groups. Suggestions for trending content for the Page or the public figure to interact with will also be shown in the News Feed as well.
To encourage more engagement from Pages, comments from public figures or celebrities will be bumped to the top of the comments section, which in fact, ensure that the pages are visible to a wider audience. Users will also be able to follow Pages directly from the comments and recommendations posts.
Updated Task-Based Admin Controls
To grant the ability to assign and manage admin access permissions based on specific tasks, Facebook had added new task-based admin controls to Pages. This backend update is aimed at those who manage Facebook Pages and the new sets of controls are built based on feedback that Facebook received during the testing phase. For instance, according to this new feature, Page admins can now grant varying levels of access to manage specific tasks including Insights, Ads, Content, and Community Activity & Messages. Available from the “manage” button on the Page, the updated task-based admin controls also launches full support for the Creator Studio mobile app. Along with these tasks, these new controls will also ensure safety and integrity.
Actionable Insights and More Relevant Notifications
In the latest announcement, Facebook says it’s bringing more actionable insights to Pages, but the exact details are still not split as of yet. A help page states that updated actionable insights will help a Page Admin understand their audience and how their content performs. It is also said to include more relevant notifications along with the updated insights.
Q&A Format
To better engage with fans through richer and interactive conversations, Facebook is introducing a new text-based Q&A format. Considered to be inspired by the Instagram trend – where creators would take questions from fans and answer them in Stories – on Facebook, followers can ask the Page questions about a topic. Once the Page answers these questions, it then becomes a stack of questions where people can swipe through to learn more. The Q&A format could be particularly useful for businesses that want to answer common questions in a fun way for their audience to get to know a creator they like, among other things.
Safety and Integrity Features
Facebook wants its platform to be a safe place to connect with fans and for that, they have improved its safety and integrity features. Being one of the most crucial updates, Facebook has finally improved its ability to detect activity that is not allowed on the platform, including hate speech, violent, sexual or spam content, phishing and impersonation.
As part of this effort, Facebook also expands the visibility of a verified badge, as it makes it easier for identifying posts and comments from authentic Pages and profiles. However, note that a verified Page’s comment on another Page’s public post, may appear higher in the comments section and it will be visible in News Feed.
In addition to these 6 new features, one of the biggest changes made to Facebook Page layouts is the emphasis on followers over the number of likes. With the new Page layout, Facebook has removed the like button from its redesigned public pages used by artists, public figures and brands, that is, it’s no longer possible for users to see how many likes a page has received; instead the company is focusing on Followers to simplify the way people connect with their favorite Pages. Rather than highlighting the likes on FB pages, the new Followers feature of a Page represents the users who can receive updates from Pages and it helps public figures receive a stronger indication of their fan base.
Other than public like counts, no other features are getting removed from Facebook Pages as part of this update. Page admins will continue to have access to everything they did previously. When you switch to the new Facebook Page experience, all Page content – including your posts, photos, videos, stories and groups – will automatically move to your new Page (if you are an admin on the Page). All of your Page followers will also be transitioned to your new Page – even if your Page has a blue verification tick, it will also get transferred to your new Page. However, the company says that the new Page experience will officially begin to roll out to all Facebook Pages in the coming months.