Really Facebook? This is disappointing...

UPDATE: In what has become a more regular trend, Facebook actually listened to users and backed off this change. Kudos Facebook, kudos. Facebook provided AllFacebook.com with this statement:

We’ve removed the recently-added authentication requirement for setting custom landing tabs on Pages. The requirement was instituted as part of a Pages quality initiative, however we are now re-investigating the situation. We will not make any further changes without first giving notice and lead time.

Very disappointing news from the powers-that-be at Facebook. Landing pages for fan/liking pages are now limited to authenticated pages (wall/info) unless you have over 10,000 fans or work with an advertising rep. The short story? From FB's point-of-view this is surely a convuluded way to get more people engaged with ad reps and that will somehow equal more revenue. In reality, this is a harsh blow to the "mom & pop" organizations and pages that have fewer than 10,000 fans.

Between this and the recent privacy issues and a Napoleanesque urge to take over the world at the office in Palo Alto, Facebook has created an environment where they are prime to be toppled by other social media. Frankly, by doing nothing the next two months, Twitter has gained ground on Facebook in terms of common opinion. Here's FB's statement from this forum:

Hello all,

We apologize for not messaging this earlier. Facebook recently made a change requiring that Pages be authenticated before enabling the ability to set a landing tab beyond Wall or Info. To be eligible for authentication, a Page must have greater than 10k fans or the Page admin must work with their ads account manager. If you are already working with an account representative, please contact that representative to begin the authentication process. If you do not work with an account representative, you can use this contact form to inquire about working with an account representative.

Also, for advertisers who don’t have a representative or 10k fans, and want to run ads and land users on a specific tab, you can still do so with standard Facebook ads by making their Destination URL as the URL incl. your tab. Unfortunately, this currently will not work with "Fan" ads.

Thanks,
Matt Trainer
Facebook Developer Network Team

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