Less than 24 hours after we first covered Facebook’s decision to limit landing tabs within Facebook Pages to “authenticated” admins, the company has appeared to revert back to the original permissions, making landing tabs available for anybody. The change was rapidly criticized by more Page administrators who use landing tabs as an easy way to convert new visitors into fans.
While we’ve reached out to the company for clarification about whether or not this change back to the original settings is permanent, we still haven’t heard back from the company regarding their policy on the new “authenticated Pages”. We’ll be sure to update if we hear more from Facebook, however there’s no doubt that many Page administrators will be grateful that Facebook has stepped back from what would otherwise be a permanently damaging change.
Facebook’s motivation behind the change wasn’t exactly clear, however we speculated that it was to reduce spam and potentially increase revenue. For Facebook to make such a significant change without any formal notice, aside from an update to the developer forum, is pretty significant. At this point Facebook appears to have gone back to the original settings, enabling anybody to set a custom tab as the landing tab, however we’ll have to wait to hear back from Facebook to confirm that this change is permanent.
Update
Facebook got back to us with the following statement: “We’ve removed the recently-added authentication requirement for setting custom landing tabs on Pages. The requirement was instituted as part of a Pages quality initiative, however we are now re-investigating the situation. We will not make any further changes without first giving notice and lead time.”
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This is really going to affect the confidence of small businesses. Now who would want to build their small business into an empire if it means having to back down from your policies of income generation to appease half wits on the internet. Not me, that's who. Thanks a lot Facebook, you really did some damage to small businesses with this one.
Comment by mkid — May 20, 2010 @ 7:43 am
This is the kind of stuff that makes us want to pull our hair out. I'm all for startups embracing agile development, but at some point a massively scaled network needs more stability to support cottage industries.
Comment by Justin Kistner — May 20, 2010 @ 7:47 am
Whew…
Comment by Cindi — May 20, 2010 @ 7:50 am
It will be nice when Facebook finally decides to tell us what's actually going on. This is a big deal and it was handled abysmally. I can't believe any business functions like Facebook does sometimes.
Comment by Jennifer Fong — May 20, 2010 @ 7:50 am
FB – Admit that it was a huge mistake, apologize, and let's move on…
Except there's that nagging question in the back of my mind – "What are they going to throw at us next?"
Comment by Mike Mueller — May 20, 2010 @ 7:51 am
Very happy that they decided against this change. It was going to make life difficult for a lot of smaller companies.
Comment by Josh Groth — May 20, 2010 @ 7:52 am
How strange! And I had just finished and published a post about it too! I have put a hold it now until there is some more response from Facebook themselves.
It does seem odd though that there was no "official" announcement in the first place. Much the same as their developers roadmap shows that apps will no longer be able to appear on your profile wall and only on a tab has been pending to start in early 2010 and still hasn't been implemented. I don't think they know their left hand from their right at the moment…
Comment by Emma Ewers — May 20, 2010 @ 7:55 am
I've been developing on the Facebook Platform since February 2007 (yes, before it was even public). Over the past few years as an app developer, Page developer and NFO consultant, I've been hit by huge changes that dramatically changed our offering and sometimes eliminated it all together.
While Facebook's changes are typically not well communicated, and can be frustrating, one thing I've learned is to *try* to trust them. These changes are typically intended to push us in a better direction and Facebook usually has awesome plans right around the corner.
Think of it this way: Facebook makes their $$$ from advertisers, most of whom are smaller sized businesses. Facebook is smart so they're not going to do something that will permanently damage those relationships. They have to give us something better if they take something we rely on away or we'll all take our dollars elsewhere.
Comment by Hazel Grace — May 20, 2010 @ 8:08 am
I think this is really weak. This type of ambiguous communication shows a lack of maturity and leadership.
But I am thrilled to see them take back their decision.
Comment by Nadja Specht — May 20, 2010 @ 8:21 am
Is Facebook finally doing what everyone on social media network sites are "supposed" to be doing: LISTENING to their audience? Sounds good to me!
Comment by Karmen Reed — May 20, 2010 @ 8:32 am
This is enough to drive us nuts. I just wrote a blog post to help people with work arounds. I truly do hope that someday soon they realize they are no longer a start-up and instead are a platform supporting millions. I also think they need to value more than their developer communities. For a platform who specializes in communities they sure don't take very good care of their own who support their efforts. I would love to see a community and respect for the agencies who are putting 1000's of fan pages up. I am working on one project that has the potential for 400-500 pages alone.
Comment by Pam Moore — May 20, 2010 @ 8:55 am
Since facebook is soooo much about change, it would be great if facebook had a formalized simple way of letting the public know about significant changes they are making (or reversing), how the change will affect functionality and tutorials on new features or work arounds. Isn't it interesting that facebook has so many users, but the majority have no idea about how to use advanced features and facebook does little to educate its users and those of us who do are trying to keep up and support others in using the coolest features? Facebook has a real opportunity to partner with it's advanced users and could really get a lot of leverage from that.
Comment by Laura Rubinstein — May 20, 2010 @ 9:04 am
It appears Facebook has awakened. I is a good thing because it is the little person who made them what they are today.
Comment by Lauren McMullen — May 20, 2010 @ 9:13 am
Seriously?
Facebook is a nightmare.
The company's ability to communicate effectively with its constituents is absolutely laughable. How many sit-downs with Washington big-wigs and emotional outcries from the community does it need to experience before it realizes that a little bit of upfront planning and communication will solve a lot of its problems?
Comment by Ironshef — May 20, 2010 @ 9:48 am
I am pleased to see that they have reverted back the functionality. I do agree with the prior comments however that this is a huge blow to the confidence of the small business community to embrace fan pages for their business. As a trainer who actively helps the real estate community understand the benefits and proper usage of fan pages, this incident has greatly impacted how I will present fan page strategies to those I speak to. PROCEED WITH CAUTION is finding a prominent way into my intro. For a lot of the people I talk to, this type of hap-hazard change with terrible communication from FB to the community makes this tool too big a risk for them to bank on.
Comment by Stacey Harmon — May 20, 2010 @ 10:06 am
Trying to keep up with all of this is so hard. I had just learned how to set up a custom landing tab and was preparing to blog about it. I echo Laura's comments about the need for some structure around letting people know about changes/features.
Comment by Karen Runtz — May 20, 2010 @ 10:09 am
Even Facebook's most ardent supporters seem to have been shaken by this move. I'm sure there are many more Facebookers now open to an alternative than there were yesterday. I expect some great discussions are taking place today in the boardrooms of other social marketing networks. This should be very interesting to watch in the coming days and weeks.
Comment by Lorne Pike — May 20, 2010 @ 10:31 am
I think the message everyone should gain from this is how important it is to have your online foundations well in place when using social media as a marketing tool.
Your blog and website are really where you want people to be in the end. A Facebook page is simply another marketing tool to create and engaged community around your brand. Though it does allow for grand 2 way conversations you also want to build that type of engagement on your own online real estate as well.
Comment by Kathy Cook Colaiacov — May 20, 2010 @ 11:17 am
Could you explain how this was supposed to be a ‘massive blow’ when all of the other allfacebook.com blog posts on fan pages suggest that landing on the wall, not a custom tab, is better for getting more fans? Please? Thanks.
Comment by Anon — May 20, 2010 @ 11:25 am
I am really glad they changed their mind about this. As a small business owner and someone who customizes Pages for other small business owners, it was a relieve to know that they have resended on this change. Now, if we can get them to resend on a couple of their things….that would be great! Have a great day all!
Comment by Rebecca Thompson — May 20, 2010 @ 11:39 am
Facebook has a self-immolation disorder. In the past three months they seem to be doing everything they can to destroy themselves and everything that made them popular. Why? If there's a revenue-driving strategy behind these moves, I can't see it. You?
Comment by Angela Cason — May 20, 2010 @ 12:04 pm
@Hazel Grace- I've been on there since 2005. Don't trust them
Comment by Guest — May 20, 2010 @ 2:58 pm
@Laura Rubinstein- Good luck on that one. FB is run by a 20 something college dropout who has no business sense or interpersonal skills it seems. The best you can hope for it being a fan of their facebook site governance/facebook pages. As long as I've been on there (5 years) they've never notified anyone about the changes they decided to make.
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Last time I checked there were only 800 or so people employed with FB. So hoping they make tutorials is out of the question. They don't even have the competence to implement code and test it properly as evidenced by the hideous new profile layout design and redundant community pages. And this is a site people want to do business with??
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Also you might not have known if you have your alumni email address you can join your college network. Not that it's an advanced feature
Comment by Guest — May 20, 2010 @ 3:32 pm
Maybe I just don't get what a landing tab is, but if it's what I think it is- I just don't see the big deal…
Comment by Amanda — May 21, 2010 @ 5:22 am
This is another huge reminder that no marketer should be relying on any platform where they don't have a contractual agreement, such as a website hosting agreement. Without an agreement and (ideally) money changing hands, the terms of service can change on a whim. And changing TOS on a whim is clearly what FB has been experimenting with lately. There will come a time when FB will try this again, and if they find that the balance of power has tipped enough in their favor, they will flip us all the big bird when we don't like their change(most likely by calling it "the new way on the web.").
Comment by Tracy Thrower Conyer — May 21, 2010 @ 5:38 am
Sigh. I wish there was some sort of accountability from Facebook, they seem to chop and change with little consideration for advertisers and no effective feedback system. To decide on this rather silly measure without any warning, then flip-flop back, is pretty alarming.
Comment by Joel Lumsden — May 21, 2010 @ 6:42 am
Very glad they switched back. But I agree with Kathy above, Facebook is only a tool to build relationships and enhance your blog, website and other online communications. Because you don't own the Facebook Page, it's fate truly is up to their discretion.
So a best practice is always to have a website or blog and use the Facebook Page to drive traffic to those sites that you do own.
Comment by Terri Grigsby Brooks — May 21, 2010 @ 9:03 am
This just reinforces my belief that Facebook really don't care about the users and just made ad-hoc decisions with the attitude that "they'll have to put up with whatever changes we make". No consultation. No community relations. Feedback as usual believes it's own press and thinks it's way more important than any user or anything else.
Comment by Andy — May 21, 2010 @ 12:06 pm
It wouldn't be "permanently damaging" to the admin, it'd only be "damaging until they bothered getting authenticated". Quite a difference.
Comment by mmm — May 21, 2010 @ 12:25 pm
Thats good they reversed it… that was going to be pretty lame
Comment by Carter Cole — June 17, 2010 @ 11:30 am
Hi, does any one know how to make the landing tab? every time I try to load the More Applications Browse More , it sits there or loads a blank page. I think that is where the Static FBML is. but not sure . I can load that if I'm not logged in but so far I don't see that FBML. I dunno why so much with a business page doesn't work. I do know its limited . But the info tab should still a low more than you web page address info. I see other business pages with a lot more and it doesn't look like they are under the personal profile. I gave up tying to email because when it send some it says to follow the link to read it. BUT it asks me to make a profile O.o now that is plain stupid.
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Comment by Brian — September 23, 2010 @ 4:56 am