Facebook Removes Messaging Feature From Pages

By Gilbert Falso :: 1:42 AM

Facebook has changed the way that official pages can contact their fans. In an announcement posted on the “Resources” tab of the page management screen, Facebook says that, “as of September 30th you’ll no longer be able to send updates to fans using Facebook Messages. The best way to make sure your content is seen is to post it on your Wall so people see your updates in their news feed.”

This move is obviously a way to drive page owners to use Facebook’s advertising platform, as advertisers with pages can direct their ads to display to people who “like” their page. Although page owners may feel slighted by this move, in reality, using the messaging feature was not a good communications tool, as messages from pages was automatically directed into users’ “other” folders on the Facebook messaging platform.

The announcement from Facebook says that messaging will disappear on September 30, but an informal poll of a handful of page owners shows that the feature has already been removed. It is possible that this is something Facebook is taking away slowly, with the goal of being completely removed by the end of the month.