On Monday, Facebook announced several changes to its service, including two new features designed to help users more easily connect with their personal interests, affiliations and favorite activities. One feature — Community Pages — is in beta format, but will create Facebook pages similar to Fan Pages based on common interests found in the profiles of users. For example, people who state that they are interested in cooking can go to the Cooking Community Page to find information, related posts and communication with fellow Facebook chefs.
Facebook also announced that users can choose to “connect” to different Fan Pages through certain parts of their profile such as current city, hometown, education and work, and likes and interests. These connections can be managed and removed along with being made private or public.
“We hope Community Pages and your improved profile make it easier for you to learn more about your friends and to express yourself,” Alex Li, a software engineer at Facebook, wrote on the company blog. “We’re rolling both out gradually over the course of a few days, so you may not see them right away. Profiles no longer are a static list of likes and interests. Now, they are a living map of all the connections that matter to you.”