Facebook has removed the like button from its redesigned public pages used by artists, public figures, and brands, the social media company said on Wednesday. This is a pretty big change and now it will instead focus more on the news feed for conversations, rather than highlighting the likes on FB pages.
Facebook pages will only show followers and have a dedicated News Feed where users can join conversations, interact with peers, and engage with fans, the company said in a blog post. The new redesign has started rolling out on January 6.
“We are removing Likes and focusing on Followers to simplify the way people connect with their favorite Pages,” Facebook said about the redesign.
Facebook pages will now only show the number of followers and a dedicated news feed section for users to join a conversation or interact with other users. “We are removing Likes and focusing on Followers to simplify the way people connect with their favorite Pages. Unlike Likes, Followers of a Page represent the people who can receive updates from Pages, which helps give public figures a stronger indication of their fan base,” Facebook said.
The company has introduced a dedicated news feed section to pages for joining conversations, follow trends, interact with peers, and engage with fans. The dedicated News Feed will also suggest new connections — other public figures, Pages, Groups, and trending content that a Page or public figure cares about.
To make Page conversations more visible to a wider audience and surfaced more frequently in their followers’ news feed, comments from public figures will be bumped to the top of the comments section. People will also be able to follow Facebook pages directly from comments and recommendations posts.
The social media giant has also added new page management features – like the ability to more clearly assign and manage admin access permissions based on specific tasks.
