Facebook Makes Some Changes

Original Article (update at the end): 

There are a couple of newsworthy Facebook changes going on. The first would be changes to the social network’s terms of service.

As Chris Walters at the Consumerist has pointed out, Facebook has removed the part of its ToS that says, "You may remove your User Content from the Site at any time. If you choose to remove your User Content, the license granted above will automatically expire, however you acknowledge that the Company may retain archived copies of your User Content."

That’s of particular interest given that the ToS still says in so many words that it owns your content. "Now, anything you upload to Facebook can be used by Facebook in any way they deem fit, forever, no matter what you do later," says Walters. "Want to close your account? Good for you, but Facebook still has the right to do whatever it wants with your old content. They can even sublicense it if they want."

Update: Mark Zuckerberg has posted about the changes to the ToS. He says Facebook would never use your info in a way that you wouldn’t want them to.

The second Facebook change comes to the profile pages for businesses. This one is probably a little less controversial, especially given that Facebook’s redesign went over pretty well. They are now giving a similar redeign treatment to these pages, taking them into more of a wall-and-tabs design reminiscent of the rest of Facebook.

Justin Smith at Inside Facebook cites the following changes:

- The Wall tab, containing all the latest updates and Wall posts, will become front and center.
 
- Most static information will live on an “Info” tab, and most Photos will now live on a “Photos” tab.

- Most custom content and application boxes will be moved to a “Boxes” tab, though some narrow boxes can remain on the “Wall” tab.
 
- Page admins can add more application tabs to their Page if they so choose.

Page admins can also share status updates just like regular Facebook users. Smith provides a walk through with screenshots here. He says the changes could launch within the next few weeks.

Update 2: Facebook Pages Redesign is coming next week according to TechCrunch who cites "sources with knowledge of the product."