No More Facebook Fan Pages! “Like” it or Not!
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Facebook is Changing the Way We Interact With Brands
Changes are on the horizon for Facebook. And the newly proposed modifications might not make everyone happy; Facebook “Fan Pages” as we know them will soon be a thing of the past and the way we interact with those Pages will change for better or worst. In this article we will take a quick peek at some of the changes to come and briefly explore what this says about Facebook’s grip on the market.
But I Liked Facebook the Way it Was!
It is a widely accepted truth that Facebook is a powerhouse in the social media game. With that said, their true strength in the market may be even more impressive than one could have imagined. It is easy to look at the staggering user numbers – 400 million active users, 50% of which sign on at least once a day. While those numbers are impressive and telling, the true measure of Facebook’s market dominance might better be measured by how they go about implementing changes to their website.
Can anyone recall just how many times Facebook changed their user interface without asking if their users actually wanted a change? How about the numerous occasions where the Privacy Policy was modified and made public only after a social media uproar shined light on the policy changes? In keeping with their “we’re going to do what we want and you will eventually get used to it” relationship with their users, Facebook is now making a sweeping policy change to their Facebook Fan Pages which will affect more than just the casual user.
So What’s Behind the Change Anyway?
The “Become a Fan” concept we have all come so accustomed with will soon be replaced by “Likes.” Facebook Fan Pages (or whatever they end up being called) will no longer accumulate ‘Fans’ but rather ‘Connections’ (much like your personal profile pages it seems). Those easy to understand call to action buttons labeled “Become a Fan” will now display a more ambiguous “Like” mention with a thumbs up logo.
So what was so wrong with the verbiage “Become a Fan” that has Facebook modifying a utility that thousands of brands and causes have happily adopted? It surely isn’t ease of use or popular demand – Fan Pages have never been so en vogue. There must be a good reason behind this, but something tells me it has more to do with increasing revenues than it does with making Facebook users happy. Either way, given Facebook’s current dominance and strategic partnerships with other large web channels, there probably isn’t much we could do about it if we wanted to.
How do you perceive this move from Facebook? Should they be more ‘user first’ oriented? Share your comments below and let us know what you think.
Article written for Unilzyer by Nick Frank: Follow Nick on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Nick_J_Frank or see his blog at http://mynicknews.blogspot.com/