Facebook Drops FBML in Favor of iFrames – Advantages & Challenges

One of the big questions that’s arisen around the changes to Facebook Pages is: How will it affect applications that were built using FBML? FBML, or Facebook Markup Language, was designed to enable users to build applications that deeply integrate into the Facebook experience. Several months ago, Facebook announced that they were in the process of deprecating FBML, and in their February 10th announcement of changes to their Pages they confirmed that FBML will be discontinued after March 10th. While existing FBML applications will continue to work, it will no longer be possible to build new applications using FBML.

iFrame Advantages
Instead of FBML, users can now build applications for Facebook tabs with HTML iFrames, enabling limitless integration of standard open web technologies without sandboxing or modification by Facebook’s servers. An iFrame or “inline frame” is simply an HTML code that allows users to embed any web page within another web page, in this case Facebook. In practical terms, this means that brands can continue to benefit from the tremendous viral capabilities of Facebook, and create more visual consistency between their web site and Facebook, as well as being able to redeploy existing assets. They’ll be able to run Javascripts on page loads and deeplink to highlight specific content as it appears in their streams. Facebook offers the following diagram of how it works.

Source: Facebook

All this makes it easier for you to incorporate all the rich content you use on your site into Facebook. You can also now engage certain basic analytics off your site to track page views and Facebook ad conversion.

Revising Tab Capabilities
But the change also means that certain other tab functions, which were easy for site admins to implement, now require the capabilities of a developer. Fan-gating, for example, a powerful way for brands to build their fan base by requiring visitors to Like their page in order to access applications, now requires a complex process involving JSON objects and Boolean code to set up.

So while the new Facebook Pages promise a future in which brands can create more consistency between their web site and Facebook profiles, and applications will  function at a higher level, it’s also clear that implementation for some of the most basic functions will now require developer support.

Facebook no longer offers a static FBML app to take care of hosting, which means brands need to provide their own server infrastructure or utilize some of the solutions offered by companies like Involver, which can provide hosting, application support, and insulation from any future changes Facebook makes.

Involver will continue to support existing FBML applications, and make it possible for our customers to combine increased application functionality with the power of Facebook to interact directly with customers and grow audience. We can help you render your Pages in HTML as you continue to access our core suite of applications.

If you have further questions or would like to speak to one of our experts, feel free to get in touch with us here or comment below.

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iFrames Are Here and So Is Involver

Beginning today, Facebook is no longer supporting the deployment of new applications on business pages using FBML. In their place, Facebook is allowing support, within the constraints of their terms of service, for iFrames. The look and functionality of fan pages has also changed, as we’ve described in previous blog posts.

What does this mean for you?

If you’re an Involver customer, your apps will be running as you should expect. Better, in fact. One of our of biggest priorities at Involver is to insulate our customers against these kinds of changes. We maintain greater than 250,000 applications on the industry’s most robust server infrastructure. We handle integration of the latest APIs and services, so our customers can focus on their priorities: brand-building and engaging with customers.

We also keep you up to date with the latest industry info, and help you prepare for changes like the one that just happened. For further info on what those changes entail, please read Changes to Facebook Pages – A Quick Guide.

Social media may still be in its formative stages, with the only constant being change itself, but our customers are already doing amazing things, with fan bases in the millions and an unprecedented level of engagement with their customers. They need to know that when Facebook decides to deprecate FBML in favor of iFrames or change its guidelines for image size, they’re not going to have to go back to the drawing board to redo all their pages.

Involver Apps Improve With the Changeover
We’ve been hearing a lot about pages and applications breaking down. Of course we do not wish that on anyone, whether they’re our customers or not. But we do think that when brands invest their time and money in a campaign, they have a right to expect things to hold up, no matter how big the campaign or what the changes to Facebook.

Over the course of this most recent Facebook “refresh,” we’ve added several new features to our apps, including the ability to add Like buttons to individual media within our applications. Here’s a before and after shot of what that looks like in our Flickr app:

Involver Flickr app before iFrames

Involver Flickr app after iFrames

And we’ve even created a new app to specifically address the changes to Facebook. In response to Facebook’s deprecation of its popular FMBL code, Involver launched a Static HTML app, which offers easiest way to render HTML in a Facebook iFrame and configure a fan page in just minutes. You can read about it in our blog post, An Alternative to FBML or download it by clicking here.

All in all, we’re excited about the changes to Facebook and we hope you are too. There’s never been a better time or a better way for brands to engage in the kinds of two-way interactivity that makes products stronger and customers more-satisfied. We hope you’ll continue to engage with us and our products, and keep sharing your questions and comments.

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