Facebook redesigns Pages with a more simplified layout and no ‘Like’ button

Facebook Pages are being redesigned. The social network announced today a significant change to the Facebook Page experience for creators and public figures, which includes a new look-and-feel, updated navigation, the introduction of a dedicated News Feed, a new Q&A format for engaging fans, and other tools and insights. Notably, the redesign will also do away with the “Like” button to instead focus on Followers — a more direct measurement of how many people a Page is currently reaching.

TechCrunch first reported the company’s plans to overhaul Facebook Pages this past summer, when it began to test the updated look with a select number of high-profile individuals, including actors, authors, creators, followed by English-language business Pages.

Today, Facebook says the new experience will officially begin to roll out to all Facebook Pages over the months ahead.

One of the biggest changes about the new Page design is that it does away “Likes.” This came about because Likes were misrepresenting a Page’s true popularity. Many Facebook users had once “Liked” a Page, but later unfollowed the Page to remove its updates from their News Feed as they outgrew their interest. Or they had “Liked” a Page as a favor to a friend after receiving a request, but declined to receive its updates.

Facebook now says Followers of a Page will be the metric at the forefront of the new experience, as it’s a better indication of how many people are fans who are receiving updates from the Page.

Another notable change is that Pages will get their own News Feed. That means the Page itself can participate in conversations as the public figure or the brand, follow trends, and interact with their fans. This dedicated News Feed will also suggest other public figures, Pages, Groups and trending content for the Page or the public figure to interact with, as well.

When you follow a Page, you’ll see their comments on others’ posts bumped up to the top of the comments section, giving them better visibility, alongside a more visible blue-check that indicates the Page is verified. The posts they’ve commented on may also be more visible in users’ News Feeds, too.

Other people will be able to follow Pages directly from the comments and recommendations posts, Facebook says.

Facebook is also introducing a new Q&A format that allows Pages to better engage with fans. This is somewhat inspired by the Instagram trend, where creators would take questions from fans and answer them in Stories. In this case, however, followers can ask the Page questions about a topic and when the Page answers, those become a stack of questions that people can swipe through to learn more. This could be particularly useful for businesses who want to answer common questions in a fun way for fans to get to know a creator they like, among other things.

In addition to these handful of major changes, there are a few updates on the backend which are aimed at those who manage Facebook Pages. For example, Page admins will be able to assign access permissions more granularly, to focus on giving people varying levels of access to perform specific tasks across Insights, Ads, Content, and Community Activity, and Messages.

Based on feedback Facebook received during the testing phase, it built a set of new admin tools interface that now has a direct entry point for managing permissions, adding new admins and accessing insights for Page admins. This is available from the “manage” button on the Page. It also launched full support for the Creator Studio mobile app.

Moderation is also being improved, Facebook says, as it’s updated its ability to detect and filter “hate speech comments, violent, sexual, spammy content, impersonator accounts, and phishing.” Other improvements in this area are still in the works, Facebook notes, but declined to provide specifics when asked for details.

Since the launch of the test, Facebook heard from users they liked the new, more simplified user interface, as well as the ease of switching between their public and private profiles and Pages, as well as the better ways to engage fans.

Facebook says the updated Pages will roll out in the “coming months.”