Facebook has quietly updated its terms for Pages to allow page owners to display previously banned text and visuals on their cover photos.

Although the terms page says that the last revision occurred on December 17th, there has definitely been some changes to to the “cover” section.

Before the change, Facebook was pretty strict when it came to what can go in a page’s cover photo. Here’s what the guidelines used to prohibit:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40 percent off,” or, “Download it on socialmusic.com.”
• Contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your page’s “about” section.
• References to Facebook features or actions, such as like or share, or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features.
• Calls to action, such as “get it now” or “tell your friends.”

These restrictions have been removed.

Now, Facebook only enforces the “no images with more than 20% text” rule, among other, more general rules that are enforced on all products across the site:

All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines. Covers may not include images with more than 20% text.

So, if you’ve been dying to throw some text about a deal you’re offering into your cover photo, I guess you can feel free to do so. I’ve reached out to Facebook for confirmation.

[Mari Smith via AllFacebook]