Facebook have updated their terms again in regards to what pages can and can not have on their Page Cover Image.
The revised guidelines are dated 6 March 2013 and read as follows:
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.
Previously there was very strict guidelines stating that no contact information, call to actions or promotions could be included in the cover image. This is no longer the case and the main restriction is your cover image must contain less then 20% text. Obviously Facebook has taken the view that this restriction is going to greatly limit the promotional opportunities in cover images.
According to a Facebook source, the reason that this change was made was with the upcoming newsfeed design changes, Page like ads utilise the cover photo from a Page, so they relaxed the rules a bit.
If you want to check that your cover image is within this 20% rule you can quickly and easily add your Facebook Page ID in this free tool to determine if your image complies.
I would love to hear your thoughts...