To fully understand the announcements that Facebook made this week, it’s important to remember how Facebook operates. Teaming up with App developers, Facebook offers users a compelling social experience that makes them want to keep sharing about themselves. But Facebook’s ultimate product is the anonymized data it provides about its users from all that sharing. Brands use this data to reach their audience and to custom tailor content with which to engage their fans. For Facebook to better serve brands, it needs to get more data from more people, and it primarily achieves this through offering a better product with more engaging experiences.

Throughout this week and in the keynote presentation at Facebook’s F8 conference, numerous new breakthroughs were announced that will change the core experience for users and provide new tools for developer partners. These changes will create greater incentives for users to share about themselves and will make it easier for users to filter and connect with the content coming from their individual networks.

Although Facebook’s changes are mostly user-focused, brands have not been forgotten. The key product that brands receive is user data, and with these changes, Facebook user data will grow significantly. It will take time for users to adapt to these changes and resource will be needed for brands to update their Facebook assets, but in the end, brands will have the opportunity to make deeper, more meaningful connections with their fans and customers. Facebook is leading the way into a future where social media is not simply about amassing a following, but rather is about what you do with the those followers once the connection has been made.