Facebook redesigns public pages, drops 'likes' button

Social networking giant Facebook Inc has dropped the “likes” button from its public pages after undertaking a redesigning exercise.

The redesigned public pages are used by artists, public figures, and brands - Facebook said on Wednesday.

“The dedicated News Feed will also suggest new connections — other public figures, Pages, Groups and trending content that a Page or public figure cares about”, Facebook’s blog post said

Starting today, Facebook Pages will only display followers and will have a dedicated News Feed section where users can contribute to conversations, interact with their peers, and engage with fans.

The company announced the move on a blog post.

"We are removing Likes and focusing on Followers to simplify the way people connect with their favorite Pages," the blog post said.

“To make Page conversations more visible to a wider audience and surfaced more frequently in their followers’ News Feed, comments from public figures will be bumped to the top of the comments section. People will also be able to follow Pages directly from comments and recommendations posts”, the blog post said additionally.