The primary change is that a majority of the page is now taken up with the “wall”, which consists of status updates and comments by fans. This is obviously a direct response to Twitter and the success it has given brands in engaging their followers in direct communication.

The biggest drawback is that pages now have the exact same layout as user profiles. Previously, many brands were able to highly customize the content and look of their pages using the large area available for images and multiple large application boxes. Now, there is only a small image on the upper left corner and a few small application boxes down the left column. As on a profile, the rest of the applications have been relegated to a boxes tab that many fans probably won’t take the time to explore. While it is possible to change settings to have new users start on this tab, once someone becomes a fan of a page, they will always start on the main wall.

The consequences are clear. Brands will not be able to rely on rich graphics or flashy widgets to create engagement and reinforce identity; the focus in now on the conversation. Brands that update their status will have it appear just like friends’ updates on their fans home pages where they will be able to “like” and comment on it. With the imminent redesign of the home page, this conversation will only gain prominence and become the primary way for brands to engage fans and grow virally through the social graph.

The challenge will be for brands to use these new touch points for communication effectively. People will not accept passively receiving broadcast information like an RSS feed of blog posts; they require real engagement and two-way conversation. Brands will need to find real people to convey their voices and identity. There have already been successful examples of this on Twitter such as Zappos and Comcast.

It will only become more complex maintaining and managing a brand’s conversation as it moves away from a brand’s own site to the distributed web. As more sites and services open APIs, new tools and meta-services will be created to facilitate this for brands as FriendFeed and TweetDeck have only begun to demonstrate for consumers.

The keyfindings are as follows:

• Most people would recommend businesses use Twitter over any other social media site: 40% to just 15% for Facebook.
• But – they’d pay for Facebook over any other site for their own personal use. I’d pick tumblr, but tumblr is still a bit under the radar. Maybe by this time next year.
• LinkedIn came in second in both categories, beating Facebook for business use and Twitter for personal use. That surprised me a LOT. Is this skewed because of who was surveyed? Clearly. But still surprising.
• MySpace = DEAD. Only 1.5% of those surveyed said they would pay for MySpace. Does this surprise you at all? Not me. I guess MySpace is still good for music, does anyone use it for anything else?
• Company using social media the best? Zappos came first, followed by Obama (not really a company, but one heck of a brand) and then CNN, also NY Times, NPR, Dell, Jetblue, Comcast — all who have active presences on Twitter. My favorite usage of Twitter from the aforementioned crew of brands is Comcast. That guy is on top if it. He answers consumer questions left and right and takes customer service to a whole new level. If only Comcast was available in NYC   In all fairness, it should be noted that these brands were given to survey recipients in a list and they were asked to rank them. They weren’t brands called out by the recipients.
• Social Media site most likely to die? ImInLikeWithYou.com Again, not surprising, although I am doubtful that if it wouldn’t have been on a list for them to choose from if many of them would have even known what it is. What started as some kind of quirky dating site where you challenged suitors to some type of lame game with the best answer having the opportunity to ask the challenger on a date has now become a haven for online Tetris-like game play that involves blocks, drawing, and hamsters. Note: I know Charles personally, love him, and wish his site all the best.

None of these findings are major breakthroughs – but the trends and shifts within the space from the perspective of the social media marketer are interesting. Most notable to me is the shift towards Twitter having legitimacy as a target audience representative of more than one “type” of consumer/marketer. A year ago, Twitter was thought to be a land dominated by the social media elite – a space where there was no room for brands to speak to consumers more representative of their actual audience. The fact that the social media elite are now saying they see it as a viable home for brands and tactic for brands to reach consumers is a big shift.

The other item of note for me is how popular the concept of “Freemium” is and how this is universally (45.5% of those surveyed) believed to be the best monetization for social media. Freemium is the idea of the free basic model followed by a fee for advanced options, a la Flickr (and coming soon for Tumblr).  Social media players have been quick to slap banner ads, sponsored gifts, and targeted advertisements within the confines of their site, but few have gone the “freemium” route as a monetization strategy.

It will be interesting to see if the tide shifts in that direction and how brands can be incorporated into the fold of premium features. It doesn’t seem like it would be enough for a premium feature to be “brought to you” by a brand, the brand would have to be further ingrained in the feature’s functionality and viability within the space for that to work.

Some great survey participant anectdotal comments:

“While Twitter is very hot right now for brands, Facebook has a much wider audience.”

“People on Twitter are thought-leaders who often spread the information around their personal spheres. Best investment.”

“Twitter: Instantaneous feedback from and interaction with customers.”

“Digg is great but can’t competewith other aggregators that are more nimble?”

“MySpace strikes me as the public restroom of social meda. Just…ew”

“ComastCares. Still hated universally, but they have the right attitude to using Twitter [sic] and haven’t given up yet.”

What do YOU think? Read the entire survey here and share your thoughts below. [Or tweet me your thoughts: @sarahashley]