Facebook opens new (old looking) design to all pages owners worldwide

As of next week, every one of Facebook’s 30 million active small business users will have the option of upgrading their page to the new design. You know the one. . . it looks like the old Facebook page design. . .

To be fair, there are some new features that will help your visitors find information faster but that’s as far as it goes.

The new design is a return to the single column updates with a static sidebar. Like a blog. Newest information on top and you work your way straight down. No more of this crazy zig-zagging across the page to read multiple entries. As simple as it is, it takes some getting used to. I’ve converted a few pages and I still keep looking to the left for most posts.

Now that I have some new and some old, though, I’m even more anxious for everyone to convert. Honestly, this simple design just makes sense. As soon as you’re offered the option to change – change for the sake of your visitors. You will have the option of taking a tour of the new design first. Then you can hold off – but it’s a moot point. Two weeks after you take the tour, you’ll be converted automatically. We can assume that eventually all sites will be converted whether you click the button or not.

The new design has a slightly different size header image so you might want to tweak that. You’ll also have the option of moving around your tabs and other widgets depending on the type of page. Offline businesses will have addresses, maps, location hours, etc in the left sidebar. Online only businesses will have the more traditional likes, photos, etc.

From an admin, the best thing about this new design is the activity summary so you can see what’s happening at a glance.

I can’t believe I’m going to say this but this is one Facebook change that’s all good. Don’t fight it. Now, you just have to find a way to get people over to see your shiny new page on a regular basis.

Have questions? It’s pretty simple, but here’s Facebook’s response to the Top 5 Questions About the Update to Pages.

 

Facebook opens new (old looking) design to all pages owners worldwide