Jim Carlson dot Net

Editors note: Other articles in this series:Facebook Band Pages, Musicians and Social Media Networks and Surviving a Recession as a Musician.

The original Facebook Pages (for bands, businesses and non-profits) had completely different functionality and visual layout from the personal profile pages.

The layout differences were startling. While personal profiles were dynamic (with status updates, friend feeds, applications), the Pages had a boxy, almost web 1.0 layout. There was no interaction on the pages, they served as a glorified Facebook ‘business card’.

With little fanfare, Facebook pretty much copied the layout from their personal profile Pages and applied it to their Pages. Although this was a good idea, it was rather shocking to those who missed the press release, as their Pages went from boxy simplicity to full featured profiles.

Although the updated Pages contained favorite features that had been lacking (status updates, dynamic walls), many users found their new layouts did not display their company information nor promote their events as conveniently as the previous layout had.

Thankfully, Facebook continued to tweak the Pages (during the tweaks, there were some odd functionality hic-ups) to give Pages users more control.

Once you are logged in and on your Page, click on the Settings Button (underneath and to the right of  the famous “What’s on your mind” status update area).

1. Default View for Wall: By default, the Pages are set to display the only the Posts by Page. Previously, posts by the Page and Fans were intermingled. To restore this, pull the drop down to the Posts by Page and Fans setting.
2. Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else: The new default is to display your Page’s Wall, while the previous layout displayed your Page’s information (Company Info, Band Bio, Website, Contact Info, etc).  The drop down allows you to select the Wall, Info, Photos or Boxes.
3. Fan Permissions: You can control if Fans can post photos, videos, links or write on your wall

Unfortunately, Events simply are not as prominent on the ‘new’ Pages. You can drag-and-drop the Events box up the left hand column, but it prevents you from moving the box to the top. You can also create an Events tab, and theoretically set your Page to land on the Events tab (see #2 above), but it is still clunky for bands that rely on Events to promote their gig listings.