In reality, while Facebook needs users, users aren’t Facebook customers. Advertisers are the true customers of Facebook and you my friends, are just a tiny part of the rich data stream that Facebook owns and advertisers are seeking.

So, while some of the changes don’t seem to make sense to you or I as individuals and these changes have caused you to learn a new way to interact, they are probably aimed at one thing – getting you to share more information, so advertisers can personalize their message to you – nothing more, nothing less.

These changes were announced during the Facebook annual F8 conference. They are business friendly changes with the goal of tapping more revenue generation from your addiction to sharing with your friends.

The new changes include:

The Timeline – this is the most talked about change because it’s highly visible. Users get a chance to totally redesign their profile page based on their life history, rather than just the past few days worth of sharing they had before. This is the first change geared towards encouraging individual users to share more information, cleverly disguised as providing you more control. As a business owner this could provide a more appealing way for a brand to present it’s story.

New Custom Verbs – Like and Recommend are no longer the only verbs available – Facebook announced that brands (business pages) will be able to introduce new custom verbs such as “cook” “watch”, “read”, “hike” and “listen.” Perhaps Facebook users don’t really need more ways to say what they are doing, but brands will likely see this as a creative way to get more engagement and build campaigns around sharing using specific verbs in conjunction with the nouns of the brand.

Real-Time Direct Marketing – Facebook didn’t call it this but hidden away in several of the announcements were a couple of things that marketers and developers are likely excited about.  Open Graph Beta is the expansion of how information is shared from Facebook Apps with Facebook Users. The demonstration Facebook used for this new beta was  Spotify music integration. While many people saw this as just a cool trick that allowed users to connect and listen to music with their friends – it actually represents far more than that.

Marketers and Facebook App developers could find that this is a great way to push real time ads, with a high level of personalization into what amounts to branded entertainment.

These new Facebook Apps must be granted “Manage Page” permission. If pages grant this new permission they are effectively giving access to their Fan Pages and all the data that comes and goes, making it a gold mine of real time information which could be used for targeted offers.

Only time will tell if Facebook users get tired of all the manipulation and changes by Facebook, but it is likely it will be viewed as giving users new features to create a better experience, when the primary objective may be creating a path for  future revenue generation inside Facebook.

Facebook can’t be ignored as a part of your business marketing strategy. These new changes could present you with more opportunitiy to laser target your advertising to the people who are most likely to  buy your product or service.

If you don’t already have a good Gacebook Fan Page for your business, or your’s is not working for your business as you expected it could, contact the experts at New Age Solutions for a free evaluation of your Social Media marketing goals and how we can help with your Internet Marketing.