It was announced earlier last week, that Facebook is now worth up to $33.7 billion dollars, if secondary market transactions are anything to go by. That’s more than five times the $6.5 billion valuation the company received in July 2009.

That is a staggering figure considering most people use the website to post pictures of their dogs and “like” status updates. The “Facebook machine” isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so unless you want to look into the supposed “Facebook alternative,” Diaspora (launching September 15th), this is your only option.

In the past few weeks, the social network has announced a few changes and additions to their site. These changes would include shrinking the width of pages and removing the “boxes” tab from profiles and pages. The biggest addition is the supposed “Foursquare killer,” Places.

If you have yet to dive into these latest developments, I’m here to help you better understand the changes and become more familiar with their new location based option.

Fan Page Shrinkage

Effective as of August 23rd, Facebook has decided to remove the familiar 760px page width and convert all fan page tabs to 520px. This not only changes the way Fan Pages are made, but also give you less room to create apps, landing pages, and more.

If you have logged in recently to discover the page that you admin has changed, you are not alone. All of the images or apps on your tabs could still be at the 760px size. Your visitors will notice the difference and if you have not changed the pixel ratio, now is a good time.

If you are using Static FBML to create your tabs, one simple solution to the width change is placing width=”520px” between img src=. (Example: <img width=”520px” src=http://……)

Pack Up The Boxes

Another change recently announced is the removal of the Boxes tab, as well as any boxes appearing in the side bar of the page. Prior to this change, whenever you added FBML tabs, RSS feeds, or other miscellaneous applications to a page, you could choose to place them in the Boxes tab or a sidebar box on the wall.

Facebook has started notifying users via messaging in profile boxes, as well as in their Help Center, that the Boxes tab will be going away. If you want the content formerly contained in these boxes to appear on a Facebook page, you will need to create new custom tabs.

Oh, The Places You’ll Go

Location based applications such as Foursquare and Gowalla have become all of the rage, connecting users to discounts at restaurants — or just informing others on where you are currently residing. (I have yet to jump on the bandwagon.)

Facebook saw this vast opportunity and recently created Places. Currently, the option is only available on iPhone or their mobile site, but it gives the already 500 million Facebook users the chance to keep their “location party” all under one roof vs. using another application.

If you are familiar with Foursquare, the concept is very similar: Check in where you are located, but now your update will appear on the Place page, your friends’ News Feeds and your Wall. (It’s just another way for creepers to meet you in person!)

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We all moan and complain every time Facebook adds, changes, or modifies their site. (We even make Facebook fan pages dedicated to our hatred with the new layout or look.) Until there is a sufficient alternative to this social network, we have to adapt to their changes and give Facebook a big bear hug.