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Inside Facebook

Inside Facebook

Platform Update: Breaking Migration to POST for Canvas, Beta Javascript SDK, Test Accounts

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 04:22 PM PST

Last Friday’s Platform Update on the Facebook Developer’s Blog included announcements regarding the migration to POST for canvas applications, a Javascript SDK for testing in the beta tier, and the termination of the ability to turn normal user accounts into test accounts. It also noted that Facebook has begun enforcing its policy that developers must only use approved ad networks, it has fixed a settings bug in the new version of its Comments Box social plugin released last week, and is recommending that those using the old FBML comments plugin upgrade to this new iFrame version.

Starting March 12th, all canvas applications must embed User IDs in a HTTP POST body to ensuring they aren’t exposed in the HTTP Referrer header. POST for Canvas is the solution Facebook developed for a much publicized issue with third-parties gaining access to User IDs.

All applications on Facebook.com must use this protocol or they will error out. To test the change, developers can go to the Advanced tab of the Developer app, and enable POST for Canvas under Migrations.

Each Monday, Facebook pushes code changes to a beta tier that will go into effect Tuesday afternoon, allowing developers to test their apps for breakage. Facebook will now offer a US english beta version of the JavaScript SDK each Monday that developers can point their apps towards for testing.

If developers experience bugs that can be reproduced on the beta tier but not the live version of Facebook, they should report them with the mark Beta Tier for expedited resolution before the code is pushed. The beta JavaScript SDK should help minimize breakage from weekly pushes, improving Facebook’s standing with the developer community.

Previously, Facebook all0wed developers to convert normal user accounts into test accounts that can’t interact with the rest of the Facebook user base or be turned back into normal accounts. To prevent users from accidentally being turned into test accounts, Facebook has removed the conversion option.

Now, developers must create test accounts via the Graph API using the updated documentation. This should reduce the incidence of horror stories where developers lose all their friend connections because they mistakenly converted themselves into a test account assuming they could change back.

Wildfire’s IFrames for Pages Facebook App Makes Creating Welcome Tabs Easy

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 02:17 PM PST

Starting March 11th, admins will no longer be able to install new FBML tap applications on their Pages, and must instead use iFrames. To facilitate this shift, Page management tool provider Wildfire Interactive has released “iFrames for Pages”, an app that makes it easy to create a Like-gated welcome tab that can show a different image or custom HTML to fans and n0n-fans.

The app will be available for free for the next three months, allowing developers with or without coding skills to create a welcome tab that drives Likes.

Since forming in 2008, Wildfire Interactive’s sweepstakes and promotions tools have helped it become one of the top Facebook marketing service providers. The company took $4 million in funding last April, and has been steadily expanding its service offering to include Twitter and email marketing services as well as social media measurement.

Now the Facebook Preferred Developer Consultant is aiming to onboard new customers who are looking for simple way to navigate the migration from FBML to more code-heavy iFrames. Once the three month trial is up, Wildfire chief executive Victoria Ransom tells us the company may continue to offer the app for free, or roll it into one of the tiers of its Promotion Builder suite that cost either $5 or $25 per campaign and $0.99 or $2.99 a day.

Once an admin installs the iFrames for Pages app on one of their Pages and provides Wildfire with their contact information, they’re brought to the app’s editor. There they can select whether they want to Like-gate their app, and then upload images or paste in HTML code for the different versions shown to those who have or haven’t Liked their Page.

The option to upload static images allows those with no coding experience to build a compelling welcome tab. The HTML option offers richer functionality, such as linking to another Page tab app, which is useful for directing users from the welcome tab to a promotion, Like-gated content, or the core functionality of a Page.

To create a custom name for the welcome tab, admins must go into the Edit Page interface, select the Apps tab from the sidebar navigation menu, and click the “Edit Settings” link in the iFrames for Pages pane. They can then replace the default “Welcome” title with another name. One minor shortcoming of the app is that admins have to manually Unlike their own Page to see how the welcome tab looks to users who haven’t Liked the Page.

By recognizing a need stemming from Facebook’s developer roadmap and creating a smooth, free solution, Wildfire has positioned itself well to absorb Page admins seeking a graceful stopgap to the migration problem.

Strategies for how Pages can most effectively use welcome tabs and the new option to direct Facebook ads to a specific Page landing tab can be found in the Facebook Marketing Bible, Inside Network's complete guide to marketing and advertising on Facebook.

Facebook Comments Box Plugin Includes Live Code for Google and Twitter Logins

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 11:58 AM PST

The new version of the Comments Box social plugin for third-party websites that Facebook released last week only gives users the options to login with their Facebook or Yahoo! accounts. However, we’ve just learned that the plugin includes live code supporting logins for accounts from Google, Twitter, and other OpenID providers. This means it might be easy for Facebook to enable logins from additional providers if its relations with these companies improve.

Facebook apparently pulled the public options to use Twitter or Google credentials at the last minute. Facebook recently clashed with Google over data portability and whether users should be able to export email addresses of their Facebook friends to Gmail. Twitter released an app in June that allowed users to see which of their Facebook friends tweet, but a disagreement between the companies led Facebook to block this functionality.

The only legitimate alternative login option to Facebook is Yahoo, which recently began allowing visitors to its network of sites including Yahoo News and Flickr to register for Yahoo accounts or sign in using their Facebook credentials.

Yahoo’s inclusion in the Comments Box could be a repayment for this favor, a sign that Facebook doesn’t consider Yahoo a threat, or the result of it signing some terms or deal with Facebook. Those logged in to the plugin through Yahoo don’t display a profile picture or link back to their account, though, making their comments appear inferior to those from Facebook users.

Modifying the Comments Box

By adding a line of Javascript, Google, Twitter, and other login options can be enabled. Adding  MultiLoginPopup.setProvider('google.com'); initiates the Google OAuth flow, and document.getElementsByClassName(“submitButton”)[0].click() lets users comment from their Google accounts.

A similar code snippet  MultiLoginPopup.setProvider('twitter'); can be used to attempt a Twitter login. This relies on a call to www.facebook.com/connect/twitter_login.php , which is currently unaccessible, causing the authentication to fail. MySpace and other OpenID providers can be enabled by substituting  ’myspace’, ‘myopenid’ or ‘pip.verisignlabs’ for Twitter or Google.

Note that Facebook prohibits modification of the Like button, another of its social plugins. It probably prohibits modification of the Comments Box as well, though we are awaiting a clarification from Facebook. Developers should know that they add this JavaScript at their own risk and could be punished.

The fact that this live code was left in the plugin means Facebook may be looking optimistically towards its future relations with other web service giants. Legitimate support for these credentials would open commenting on third-party sites that have implemented the plugin to a wider audience, improving discussion.

The Comment Box’s lack of an anonymous login option discourages low quality comments and trolls, though it may also discourage valuable but controversial comments users might not want their friends to associate with them.

Allowing Google as a login option could permit slightly more anonymous commenting, as many users’ Google accounts aren’t as deeply connected to their friends. Allowing users to comment from a widely held account that is tied to their real identity, but not necessarily their entire social graph, could lead to more heated debate without opening the floodgates to abuse.

Facebook could but doesn’t currently provide a way to limit on a comment-by-comment basis the visibility to friends of comments syndicated from the plugin to a user’s news feed. In the absence of such privacy controls, there’s an increased need for an authenticated but disconnected commenting option.

[Thanks to Tom Waddington for the tip.]

Featured Facebook Campaigns: Old Navy, Carrabba’s, Malaysia Airlines, Chobani Yogurt and Solmar Hotels and Resorts

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 09:00 AM PST

Brands were giving out coupons, soliciting fan feedback, creating engaging games, awarding vacations and helping make life a little more convenient when traveling — based on our look at featured Facebook campaigns this week. There were some interesting tactics used, including emailed coupons, making travelling more social by using Facebook to book your flight and using fan-generated content to gain network exposure.

We’ve excerpted two campaigns below. You can see the full week’s coverage in the Facebook Marketing Bible, which also includes detailed breakdowns of dozens of other featured campaigns by top-performing brands and businesses on Facebook.

Old Navy's and RadiumOne Social's Game Developer Contest

Goal: Network Exposure, Product Purchase, Engagement, Page Growth

Core Mechanic: Old Navy and RadiumOne Social sponsored the Game On!: The Old Navy Developers Challenge to find the company's new application.

Game: BreakoutBand's winning app allowed users to create their own Old Navy-themed song, taken from Old Navy's current Old Navy Records ad campaign.

Method: Old Navy and RadiumOne Social teamed up to sponsor the developers contest, then selected mockups from Sugar Inc., BreakoutBand, and Tetris Online/Ace Studios to run live for two weeks. BreakoutBand was awarded $15,000 as the winner on March 1.

Impact: According to a press release, during the two week demonstration, the average amount of time spent creating a song with BreakoutBand's game was 80 minutes and more than 200 songs were created. The two winning songs were featured on the Old Navy Facebook Page, which has more than 2 million fans.

Carrabba's Postcards From Italy

Goal: Network Exposure, Engagement, Page Growth, Product Purchase

Core Mechanic: Facebook entry form to receive coupons, or "postcards," for Carrabba's products via email.

Method: The Carrabba's Postcards From Italy app on Facebook requires the user to Like the Page before using the app. After giving permission, users must fill out their name, email and birthday, then select the Carrabba's location nearest to them. Once this is done the user has the opportunity to invite more Facebook friends to participate. The user is told that they will receive one postcard, or coupon, a week, unless they sign up later in the promotion, when the coupons will come spaced closer together; the offers include free desserts or appetizers, $5 off pasta dishes and 20% off carry-out. Finally, the user is asked to enter to win a Vespa motor bike. The app posts a story to the news feed that links back to the postcard entry form.

Impact: The Carrabba's Page recently surpassed 80,000 Likes and posts about the application received dozens, sometimes hundreds, of Likes; most posts received dozens of comments.

How are top brands in the industry designing their Facebook marketing campaigns? See the Facebook Marketing Bible for detailed breakdowns of dozens of Featured Campaigns by top-performing brands and businesses on Facebook.

Cupid, Badoo, IQ, Horoscope, Music and More on the Top 20 Growing Facebook Apps by MAU

Posted: 07 Mar 2011 08:34 AM PST

There were many games on our list of top 20 growing Facebook applications by monthly active users this week, but there were also a lot of entertainment apps, for dating, horoscopes, luck, profile banners and more. This list was compiled based on AppData, our data tracking service covering traffic growth for apps on Facebook, and covers apps that grew the most in the past week.

Top Gainers This Week

Name MAU Gain Gain,%
1. Monopoly Millionaires 2,000,987 +1,072,355 +115%
2. Zuma Blitz 5,059,950 +774,404 +18%
3. Cupid 2,290,176 +591,114 +35%
4. Intelligent Elite 2,757,412 +571,499 +26%
5. Ravenwood Fair 11,331,436 +568,521 +5%
6. Profilbanner auf Deutsch 3,045,694 +561,770 +23%
7. 7 Best Friends 1,126,999 +552,632 +96%
8. Daily Horoscope 2,092,567 +549,641 +36%
9. BandPage by RootMusic 18,847,574 +528,666 +3%
10. My Friend Map 569,180 +500,586 +730%
11. Luck Daily! 990,138 +464,139 +88%
12. Profile Top Banner 507,721 +453,879 +843%
13. 英雄遠征-開心農場 536,075 +416,681 +349%
14. Glory of Rome 1,725,692 +397,850 +30%
15. Gourmet Ranch 1,464,758 +388,865 +36%
16. Komik Videolar 631,932 +388,707 +160%
17. Diner Dash 1,951,069 +383,930 +24%
18. Badoo 43,739,608 +381,273 +0.88%
19. Birthday Cards 7,382,965 +369,221 +5%
20. Честита Баба Марта! 359,261 +359,219 +855,283%

Topping the list were Monopoloy Millionaires and Zuma Blitz, two games that saw huge growth, 1 million and 774,400, respectively. Then there was Cupid, the dating app that added 591,100 MAU; AppData shows that the growth comes mostly from the U.S., India and the UK and falls within the age range of under 18 to 35. Another dating app on the list, Badoo, grew by 381,300 MAU and is growing in Mexico, France and Italy, serving an older age range, 18 to 45; this app grows partly by asking users to answer questions about their friends, which sends them a notification.

Intelligent Elite grew by 571,500 MAU, in Indonesia, mostly. If you recall, this app has an effective viral element — tricking the user into thinking they are taking an IQ test on Facebook (you have to login to the web site to get the results), and then before the end you have to answer half a dozen questions about your friends, tagging about 20 people in the stream in the process.

There was the German profile banner app, Profilbanner auf Deutsch, which saw growth of 561,800 MAU; when you install the app the resulting photo album created tags you in each photo. The Profile Top Banner with 453,900 MAU this week, also tags you in the album created for the profile banner. The 7 Best Friends app showed growth in India mostly with 552,600 MAU. Daily Horoscope grew by 549,600 MAU mostly in Turkey; the app posts your horoscope to the stream.

BandPage by RootMusic grew by 528,700 MAU mostly in the U.S., the app allows music lovers and performers to promote their music on Facebook. My Friend Map saw 500,600 MAU this week; the app generates a geographical map of your Facebook network and publishes a catchy photo to your stream. Luck Daily saw a rise of 464,100 MAU; the app posts your daily luck score to your Wall.

There was Komik Videolar, or Video Air, saw 388,700 MAU this week; the app includes several viral elements, such as generating a feed story when you comment or Like a video, allowing for sharing of videos, but most importantly, videos automatically post to the stream when you use the app. Birthday Cards grew by 369,200 MAU; it asks users to send cards to their email contacts. The Russian Честита Баба Марта grew by 359,200 MAU this week.

The rest of the apps were games, and are covered on Inside Social Games.

tirsdag den 8. marts 2011 at 07.27