How Facebook's recent changes will benefit your business

In addition to the major Facebook profile and pages updates that occurred in the past month, Facebook has tacked on a few more changes you and your organization should know. Here are the four updates:

Fan page like buttons: A change in the functionality of the like button essentially gives it the same basic functionality as the share button. In the past, when you would press like for a fan page, it would give you the option to edit what it posted to your wall. The editing option is gone and now when you “like” a page it is shared with your network via a post on your wall.

This can be beneficial for business fan pages because once someone likes your page, a link leading back to your page or website is shared on your new fan’s newsfeed. This new function is a great medium for exposure and a way to drive traffic back to your Facebook fan page.

Messaging system: The new messaging system allows users the ability to communicate through whatever vehicle they choose, be it SMS, email or IM, all in real-time. All users are offered an @facebook.com username that matches their public usernames. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, listed seven characteristics of the new messaging system, which are modeled less like mail and more like chat: seamless, informal, immediate, personal, simple, minimal and short.

This is beneficial to you and your business because of its immediate and simple way of communicating. Think – if there is a comment made on your fan page wall, you can be notified immediately and quickly respond and create conversations. You can also add your clients’ @facebook.com email addresses to your Outlook, Gmail or other address books and use it to communicate. By using real-time vehicles to communicate with your connections you increase the ability to stay in contact with not only your current followers but also with potential clients and leads.