Facebook’s founder, Mark Zuckerberg, once said at a conference that no company ever went out of business for moving too fast. Considering how fast Facebook has grown and the vast changes they have made, I would say Zuckerberg is “eating his own dog food.”

Today is F8, Facebook’s annual conference. Several changes to their interface are expected along with  introductions to new products. To get a head-start, I’m going to outline  fan page changes that have an impact on businesses.

1. Page advocates from “Fans” to “Like”

Facebook wants to make it easier for users to interact with fan pages by changing the term “Become a fan” to simply “Like”.  Soon users will no longer need to input their interests into their profile. Instead, users will now be prompted to  “like” or link to relevant pages upon login. This change will allow Facebook to better index profiles for advertisers and for top brands to gain more followers. There’s a great article on Techcrunch.com that outlines these changes in more detail.

Aside: I think this could be a bad idea. Not only is the phrasing a bit confusing, but it also puts users in the position of formally endorsing brands  without an alternative. There is also a potential cost to change custom pages and marketing materials utilizing the old phrase, ‘Fan Us’. I have a feeling designers and developers are going to have their hands full for the next few weeks.

2. Page Size Shrinkage

There have been rumors that page tabs will soon be reduced to 540 pixels from the current 750 pixels. The reason may be to make room for a navigation panel. This change equals  more development time to custom pages that already are using the larger space.

Aside: Do businesses and designers have a choice, no. Are we going to complain about it, yes. Are we going to get over it, probably.

We will keep our ears to the ground as today unfolds, with Mark Zuckerberg at the helm who knows what other surprises are in store!