Whenever Facebook is acting up, I’m pretty sure they’re working on some changes or adding new features again. Here are some of the latest Facebook updates this week and a couple of things I noticed that were changed this month of June 2012. Please note that if you don’t see some of these changes yet, you probably are still not using Timeline OR you’re still next in line.

Vanity URL for Facebook Pages Anytime!

Before, Facebook pages need to have at least 25 fans before they can request for their vanity URL or Facebook username. Now, no need to wait or request for it. You can change it right away.

I changed one of my newly-created Facebook page’s username / vanity URL even when it had 2 fans only.

Changes in Facebook News Feed

I see more updates from people on my News Feed than from Facebook pages I follow, especially restaurants. So, I’m guessing that they’re now limiting the amount of posts for businesses that appear on my news feed. A tactic perhaps to get them to pay to promote their posts on Facebook.

It’s not that I don’t like seeing other people’s feeds, but I ended up hiding and unsubscribing to most of them, just so I can lessen the amount of their updates showing up on my feed.

My Interests Lists and Favorites

To resolve the above issue, I decided to create my own Facebook Interests feeds to keep all the pages and people I want to read from in one place.

Also, in case you don’t know yet, you don’t have to be a fan or to “like” a page, or be friends with someone to see their updates. You can subscribe to people’s public posts AND you can add Facebook pages to your Interests lists to subscribe without actually liking their page. See my example below.

I’m subscribed to the Facebook page Everyday Jokes, but I’m not a fan of their page. Now, this makes it harder for page owners to keep their fans engaged and loyal, don’t you think?

But, I guess it’s time brands or businesses take this more seriously.

Hover Cards on Facebook

From the screenshot above, you’d see that when you hover your mouse on the Facebook profile photo or the name of the page or person, you’d see their Facebook Hover Card.

The hover card shows statistics like mutual friends, number of fans and friends who liked the page, and the cover and profile photos. Plus, information like the name or description will show up on top of the cover photo, right beside the profile photo.

This may help gain you more followers for your page when other people share your contents on their walls. So, you might want to think about how your cover photo will appear. I personally don’t think it’ll have a great impact though, but it’s better to consider it when designing your cover photo just to cover all bases, right? 🙂

For Facebook pages that have claimed their address or place, there’ll be a map instead of the profile photo on top of their cover image. When clicked, this directs users to a full Bing map.

Brands or businesses usually use their logos as profile photo. Because of the hover card, you might want to consider adding your logo on the cover photo too. I know, that might look too repetitive, but it can help identify or associate your hover card with your brand upon seeing the logo.

If you don’t think the hover card works, you can check the Insights of your Facebook page and there shows a statistic or number of “likes” you got from people seeing your page’s hover card. The screenshot below is for our food blog’s Facebook page:

Notification Bar for Facebook Page Admins

Update: They call it Voice bar which makes it easier for you to switch profiles.

I have my Facebook pages set so that whenever I do anything on the page, it’ll show up as an activity by the page.

If you want to interact with people on your page using your personal Facebook profile, you can easily switch using the link on the new notification bar for Facebook Page admins on top of the page.

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The last update on Facebook – changing our default email on our profiles to the Facebook.com email address – wasn’t accepted well by almost everyone I know. I think these changes I featured here will improve our Facebook experience, except for the fact that the reach of Facebook pages somehow appears to have been altered to the disadvantage of businesses. I’m hoping that will still change.

What other Facebook changes have you observed lately?