Facebook's New Pages: A Hands-On Tour

10.02.2011

So what's new? Facebook pages, like their profile counterparts, now show a line of photos at the top of their main wall (). For pages, these photos include any images posted by the page owner. In my mind, this is the worst new feature of the page makeover; in contrast to photos uploaded to personal Facebook profiles -- which tend to show images of the actual profile owner or his friends and family -- photos posted to Facebook pages frequently show products, screenshots, and other random things that don't really make sense when displayed out of context.

On , for example, the photo bar is currently showing images of the Googleplex, a Jabra headset, a Cr-48 notebook, and two screenshots of websites. Seems like an odd choice to be the first thing people will see upon visiting my page.

Aside from that, page elements are shifted around a bit -- the navigation area, which allows you to toggle through different tabs, is now on the left-hand column of the page instead of the top -- and the posts displayed on the wall are now filtered through an algorithmic process similar to what's done in the "Top News" option on your main Facebook stream. Previously, posts were shown in a purely chronological order.

Perhaps the most significant changes to Facebook pages are the newly launched features for page administrators. The new Facebook page system adds in some basic-sounding but long-missing options for page owners, most of which revolve around the ability to sign in as your page.