Facebook has had a busy 2010, rolling out small changes here and there. People no longer become “Fans” of a Facebook page; they simple “like” it. Though subtle, this change should help folks waging advocacy campaigns to appeal to a larger group of people who were reticent to consider themselves fans of an organization or cause.

A bigger change is the unveiling of a completely new feature: Community Pages. According to Facebook, these new pages are dedicated to a topic or experience that is “owned collectively by the community connected to it.” It’s another way of connecting with people who you share similar interests with. At the moment these pages are organic. Facebook has an algorithm that automatically recognizes communities that may be of interest to you based on your likes and interests and profile information. At the moment, these community pages are auto-populated with Wikipedia content. If you want to be associated with the community page, you click on the “like” button et voilà.

What does this mean for people and organizations that have a reputation to manage or politicians that obsess over their brand? They’ve lost even more control. Default content on community pages is auto-generated. So if people write updates chastising a political party, for example, their nasty comment will appear on the politics community page and there’s no way to moderate the comment. If the community page is active enough, it could outrank your official Facebook page, which could lead to confusion. What if someone lands on a community page under the impression it’s your official page, but finds these nasty comments? It could be your worst nightmare.

But like anything else, those who embrace the change and adapt quickly, will benefit from these changes. If you’re waging an activation campaign, your first order of business should be to find relevant auto-generated community pages and drive your supporters to publish status updates incorporating key terms that will get their updates on the community page. This should also be an incentive to keep official pages updated regularly, as content derived from those can also make it to community pages.

And like the early days of social media when corporations struggled to cede full control of their brand, those who come to terms with the new reality quickly, stand to benefit the most.