To support the launch of new features for pages with Timeline, Facebook now offers APIs to manage a page’s messages, milestones, About section, apps and posts.

These additions allow page management applications to control important areas of organizations’ Timelines so that page owners don’t have to switch between platforms. Developers anticipated these APIs after Facebook introduced the new pages on Feb. 29.

An important new API gives the ability to manage a page’s messages. This lets page representatives see and respond to private messages users send through the new optional feature for pages. Some organizations might prefer to have these messages incorporated into page management or customer service applications rather than having representatives access them directly from the Facebook page. Software solutions keep things more organized and have other collaboration features that Facebook does not, for example being able to assign tickets to different users.

Another API now available allows apps to manage a page’s milestones. With milestones, page owners can add important events to any date on a page’s Timeline. These stories show up larger than other posts on the page.

Apps will also be able to edit a page’s About section, upload a cover photo, change tab app icons and hide or unhide page posts via the API. Documentation details are available here.