14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook is working on a few updates and changes for Pages. The purpose seems to be to streamline the experience and to also give page administrators more info and control.
From the first category is the fact that Facebook is removing the Discussions App, which added as simple forum for discussions on Facebook Pages. The social network, it seems, wants people to just use the Wall.
Facebook is also adding a new metric for Pages Insights, dubbed "People Talking About." As the name implies, the metric will measure how many people are engaged with the page, either by liking it, commenting and so on.
The Discussions Board app enabled users to have bigger conversations and threaded comments on Facebook Pages. At its peak, in December last year, the app had 54 million monthly active users and 27 million daily users.
Since then though, usage has declined to 22 million monthly active users and only 914,000 daily users. Still, that's almost one million users every day.
Facebook isn't allowing admins to install the app anymore and is notifying users of its impending removal. There doesn't seem to be a way of exporting or saving the existing discussions, which some users and certainly some Page admins will not like very much.
"We've found that the best way to encourage conversation and feedback is through posts and comments on your Wall. We've removed these tabs for now as we work on tools to help you moderate and filter content," Facebook explained on a help page detailing the move.
On the brighter side of things, Facebook will expand the type of metrics available to Facebook page admins. The three available metrics until now are "Likes," "Friends of Fans" and "Weekly Total Reach." "People Talking About" will become the fourth number and will include any kind of interaction with the page, or link to it.