With over 800 million users, Facebook is overwhelmingly the most popular and influential social network in the world. So when Mark Zuckerberg speaks, we all listen, especially when anticipating an announcement as large as the bombshell he dropped last Thursday at the f8 Summit in San Francisco. With the stage all to himself and a little help from Andy Samberg, Mr. Zuckerberg dutifully detailed the upcoming changes to Facebook user profiles. The reception was a potent mixture of shock and awe, leaving tech bloggers scrambling to fill in the blank next to the question of “What does it all mean?” Well, what does it all mean? When Facebook makes changes, they are usually met with criticism and contempt, but this time was a little different. While some are naturally upset and confused, the majority of Facebook users seem ambivalent.

Now that the dust has settled and the public has gotten a better feel for what is about to happen to your Facebook, let’s take a look at the changes and try to understand what they mean for future of not only our personal profiles, but for small business pages as well.

First, let’s break down the major changes in brief:

The Timeline: Perhaps the most noteworthy and scrutinized addition of the new Facebook is the “timeline.” The Timeline is what your profile has now become, and is Facebook’s interpretation of your life since birth. Let’s say you signed up in 2008, then from 2008 to the present you can see every single photo you uploaded and tagged, everything you posted, and everything you have “liked,” all with the exact date and time. But you can also add photos from your childhood and even baby pictures, coinciding with the year each photo was taken. Effectively, Facebook has turned profiles into scrapbooks.

Away With the “Like” Button: Facebook has decided that users want to be able to express how they like something by more than just “liking” it, so they’ve introduced verb usage for wall posts, comments, photos, and links. With Facebook Gestures, instead of liking a video or book or you can let it be known that you’ve watched and read it and presumably enjoyed it.

Ticker Me This: As you probably can already see, Facebook introduced the “Ticker” on the right side of your home screen to give you real time updates of what’s going on in your social community. The Ticker is apparently reserved for updates that aren’t necessarily relevant and that tend to clog your News Feed. Since users will now be able to watch movies, stream music, and read news articles on Facebook, what your friends are reading and watching will show up on the Ticker as well.

Facebook left in audience in San Francisco as well as junkies (like us!) following online in awe last week and it took some time for people to take it all in. A lot of attention has now been turned to the future of the relationship between businesses and Facebook. Small businesses are especially feeling the heat to adapt to the changes as quickly as possible once they go into full effect on September 30. The fact is, no one is entirely sure how the new changes will affect businesses and the way the spread their brand and interact with customers. Only time will tell how any of this information will impact marketing and advertising.

Will the Timeline benefit businesses?

Will marketing practices be influenced by the Ticker?

Will the potential “over sharing” of information turn people off from Facebook and lessen the impact businesses have on the social media platform?

All of these are questions to be considered in the coming weeks and months. Until then, we recommend sticking to this blog’s mantra: Adapt!