Facebook has started the process of verifying the ownership of a Facebook page. Facebook page admins of large pages have started receiving messages like this from Facebook

“Our records indicate that you are currently the admin of a Facebook Page with a large number of fans, To ensure a positive user experience, we require admins of large Pages to confirm their affiliation with the brand, business, person, or entity that their Page represents.”

A clean up is obviously a great move as there are a large number of ‘non official’ pages out there claiming to represent brands and companies. I cannot help but wonder if this move along with the recent launch of ‘Community Pages’(which will surely continue to be free)¬† is a precursor to Facebook asking customers to pay up for the privilege of running those pages.

Should Facebook charge page admins? I i think they should. In many cases Facebook pages have become an integral part of the brand’s communication strategy and it is only fair that if the brand is benefiting, it should be ready to pay for the privilege. One could argue that Facebook still makes money off pages because of the advertising opportunity that more pages create (Admins advertise for fans and fans interaction with pages creates for advertising inventory for Facebook)

It is most likely however that Facebook will introduce a new ‘premium’ category of pages and admins of large pages will be able to upgrade.

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