Facebook has returned the “Most Recent” tab to Page walls, allowing users to view a reverse chronological stream of updates by the Page and its fans. The removal of this version of the wall was the most criticized change in the February 2011 Page redesign. Users can choose to switch between the Most Recent and the relevancy filtered “Top Posts” view, but admins can’t currently set Most Recent as the default view.

The change will please some unhappy admins who argued that the relevancy filter surfaced comments that were too old, especially admins whose Pages focus on current events.

Last month’s Page redesign included significant changes to the Page wall. Instead of the option to show users the Most Recent real-time stream of updates, admins could only show the Everyone view, which surfaced recent posts by friends, posts by other users in same language or country, and posts that have received a lot of Likes and comments. This sometimes surfaced comments that were days older than the latest comments.

Facebook has now renamed the Everyone view “Top Posts”, the name Facebook tested the relevancy view under in January. When admins set “All Posts” as the default view for their wall in the Edit Page admin interface, the Top Posts tab appears first.

Only admins could see a Most Recent view, which helped them make sure they’d read every post for moderation purposes.

See more at www.insidefacebook.com

Facebook’s self-serve performance ad tool now allows Page, Place and application admins to create Sponsored Stories ads. The recently launched ad unit allows admins to pay for additional distribution of Page stories as well as user updates that mention them in Facebook’s ad space. Until now, these ads could only be bought through a Facebook managed brand advertising representative.

Sponsored Stories complement other types of advertising and marketing on Facebook, allowing businesses and brands to approach users in multiple ways at once. Sponsored Stories will likely become a component of many ad campaigns on Facebook.

If admins select a Page, Place or application as an ad’s destination in the ad creator, a Sponsored Stories option is revealed. If a Page is the destination, admins can choose to create a Like Story, which “promotes News Feed stories about the viewer’s friends liking your Page”. This type of ad is most effective when it can tell users that multiple friends have Liked your Page, and is therefore best paired with standard Facebook ads, promotions, or tab applications that simultaneously drive Likes, seeding the Sponsored Story.

The other option for Page admins is to create a Page Post Story, which “promotes News Feed stories about your Facebook Page updates.” This can help Pages drive extra clicks to an outbound link, such as to vote in a poll, sign a petition, visit a ecommerce store or get more people to follow another call to action. If the post includes a photo or video, users can click through to see the photo, or watch the video inline. Read more at www.insidefacebook.com

Facebook’s new introduction site for Deals, its location-based promotions service, helps users discover nearby Deals and teaches business owners how to offer them. The locator displays a list and Bing map of local promotions, while the instructional videos and downloadable Deals Guide for Businesses .pdf explain best practices for creating Deals campaigns.

By facilitating the business on-boarding process, and allowing users to purposefully search for promotions, the site should help Deals become a more popular way for businesses to incentivize foot traffic.

Facebook originally launched Deals with a handful of brands in November, but it was only available in the U.S. for iPhone and touch.facebook.com users. Though a powerful way for businesses to court customers, a lack of understanding amongst both business and users led relatively few to implement or use it.

In the months since, Facebook has rolled out its location service Places to Europe, Japan, Canada, and Australia, added access for Android devices, and today launched Deals in Europe. Now that it has expanded the potential user base and gotten feedback from businesses who’ve tried it, Facebook is prepared for a more aggressive push.

See more at www.insidefacebook.com