If you are still using Facebook’s old FBML tabs for your Facebook Business Page, now is the time to make the change! The final official end date when all FBML tabs will cease to work and will be removed from Facebook by Facebook is set for June 6, 2012.
In September 2011, Facebook announced the end of FBML with a tiered “retirement” plan. Users have not been able to add FBML apps since last year and Facebook stopped support and bug fix monitoring for FBML on January 1, 2012. Now the last phase, removal, is slated for June 6, 2012. Those still using FBML apps on their Facebook Fan Pages should find a replacement that is a i-frame app solution. One example is a tool like TabSite. Below is a current status posting in the Facebook Developer area regarding the end of FBML.
The time has come for those last holdouts still using a FBML tab on their Facebook Page to fully transition to iFrame tabs and depart from FBML coding completely.
Fan Page Admins can create i-Frame apps from scratch if desired. This does require some basic knowledge of coding, or Facebook Page Admins can use a third party i-frame platform that solution where coding knowledge is not needed.
If Page Admins have tabs on their Facebook business Page with the logo icon shown below, this indicates an FBML app, and Admins will want to make a change!
History and Information for Fan Page Admins on FBML
3 Summary Points:
1. What is FBML and who should care?
The answer is that Page Admins do not need to care unless they were using FBML on their Facebook Fan Pages.
FBML
FBML is Facebook’s original framework for serving custom content on fan page tabs. This content is served by Facebook, which, in short, means the user’s browser never hits the app developer’s server directly. Instead, Facebook requests the content from the app developer’s server, parses and filters it, and sends it to the browser for display. The result was content served by Facebook on custom tabs.
Facebook’s Static FBML App
Facebook’s Static FBML app was an application provided by Facebook and installed millions of times that enabled the creation of FBML based Facebook page tabs. To use the application, page admins simply added the app to their page, and then customized the content by coding using FBML code language.
Again, FBML tabs will NO LONGER WORK on Facebook Pages beginning June 1, 2012.
2. What is Facebook’s preferred method for adding custom tabs to Fan Pages?
iFrame Apps
iFrame Apps are Facebook’s accepted framework for serving content on fan page tabs. Content is served directly by the developer’s server, rather than being proxied by Facebook’s servers. Because the page is hosted externally of Facebook, it can render HTML, CSS and even Javascript just like any external website does, which was not the same with FBML.
iFrame Apps were launched in March of 2011 and are the standard set by Facebook for Page tabs.
3. What should non-coders do for creating custom Facebook Page tabs?
There are currently a number of leading Facebook Page Tab Builder platforms that allow Page Admins to build sophisticated tabs without knowing coding. As noted, TabSite.com is one example.
Many of these 3rd party platforms offer robust capabilities including ability for non-coders to do the following:
- Add Videos to custom tabs
- Run Contests and Sweepstakes on Fan Pages
- Add/Edit Content easily on Tabs
- Create Photo SlideShows
- Add Facebook Social Plugins such as Comments, Like button, Send, etc.
- Embed E-mail Sign-up forms
- Add your Blog and Twitter feeds
- Create a fan-gating mechanism with our Like-Gate tool
- iFrame in your website
and much more!
Again, June 1, 2012, FBML ceases to work and FBML tabs will be removed by Facebook.
Take time to evaluate your current Facebook Page today!