Until recently, one could put a Like button on a web page, and if you were listed as the admin in the "fb:admins" tag on the page, and you then clicked the "Like" button yourself, an admin page would be created in your personal Facebook account where you could send updates to fans who had liked your web page. This is being phased out on November 7, by which time one needs to convert all such pages to "real" facebook pages following the procedure Facebook documents here:
developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/migration/
Our nonprofit organization operates web pages (and Facebook pages) for just over 200 breed-specific animal rescue groups, all of which have Facebook like buttons on each web page. I've successfully migrated over about 20 of these pages using the procedure designated in the page above.
The problem I'm having is that at some point recently, Facebook stopped creating the Admin pages when a page admin likes a web page. This means, for about 80% or so of the rescue pages we have (many with 1000's of likes), I have no way to "migrate" them because there is no page to migrate.
All of these pages have identical code as the pages I was able to migrate, the only difference is I never went, and as page Admin, clicked the Like button on any of these pages, so Facebook never created any page which I can use for the migration process. (I would have done this months ago had I known Facebook was phasing out this ability, but I don't think it was ever announced.)
I don't know when Facebook discontinued creating Admin pages for web pages with Like buttons, but having discontinued it before the November 7 actual migration deadline, we have no way now to access the likes from many of our web pages to migrate them over to our actual Facebook pages.
This might be better illustrated by examples. We operate a page for Pit Bull Rescue here:
http://pitbull.rescueme.org/
I successfully migrated the "Likes" from that page to our actual Facebook page here using the documentation on Facebook's migration page:
http://www.facebook.com/pitbull.rescueme.org
(Note the "Like" count on the Facebook on the web page is higher, because Facebook counts certain shares on a page, that don't count as actual likes on a Facebook page.)
But here's a page with the problem: australianshepherd.rescueme.org
It has 383 Likes but there is no way for me to migrate those likes over because there is no associated page in my Facebook account to migrate. I created a Facebook page to merge these likes into ( www.facebook.com/australianshepherd.rescueme.org ) but don't know how to get them there.
In the past I would have just clicked the Like button on the WEB page itself, and an Admin page would have been created. Apparently Facebook discontinued that ability at some point long before the November 7 migration deadline, so I have no idea how I can fix this.
I imagine (or hope) there is some parameter perhaps I can switch in some app settings panel to help with this, but I can't find any way to do it. Any suggestions?
I've been told I need to ask someone at Facebook to manually transfer "Likes" from such pages over to our actual Facebook pages, but have not been able to reach someone to do this. If this is the necessary step, can someone from Facebook please contact me privately, or post here how to get that type of assistance.
If this was just a few hundred likes it wouldn't be a big deal, but cumulatively I believe we have well over 100,000 fans we will lose if we can't fix this. The hundreds of volunteers running all these rescue group web pages who spent many hours each week over the past year building up our fan base, aren't going to be pleased about learning all their efforts will be lost.
Any suggestions would be very, very appreciated!
Sincerely,
Jeff Gold
This was announced back in July. https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2012/07/25/platform-updates--operation-developer-love/
It is very important for all developers who integrate their products with Facebook to follow the Facebook developer blog. It keeps readers up to date with 90-day breaking changes.
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I am currently implementing Facebook on an eCommerce store.
I have a Facebook page for the actual store and I also have links on each of the product pages where visitors can "Like" the individual products.
Now, I know that when someone "likes" the actual Facebook Page of the store, they receive status updates whenever that page makes a post on their wall.
Is there any way to integrate this also if someone only likes a product, instead of the entire Page, they also receive status updates of the Page?
Or do they need to like the actual Page in order to receive updates.
I hope someone with experience in integrating this can help me. Thank you very much :)
The question is: Building a relationship with a user visiting your page or an opportunity to reach to friends of that particular user.
If the user likes a post, link or an article on your web page this is a one time action and after some time this action will disappear from his/her friends' news feed. And the opportunity to interact with that user one more time will disappear as well. But if that user likes your page so you will have one more fan who will receive your updates every time you post them (Actually this is not always as Facebook news feed algorithm can filter your post).
But what can I suggest is: Put a separate Like Box in your web page to gain more likes for your Facebook page. This like will be more targeted and relevant, as they know what they are doing and they will not be surprised if they see some posts from your page on their news feed. This could be a better experience for your page. And secondly put separate like button on each product with correct meta tags and if it interests particular users they will go to your web page and if they like it, they will also connect to your Facebook page.
as far as I understood Facebook also offers "likes" for plain websites without their own fanpage.
Now, if one has a certain number of such likes and decides to open a dedicated fanpage is there a way to transfer respectively migrate these "likes" to the fanpage or does he have to start from zero?
No there isn't. The "likes" are per page/website and are non transferable.
Please see the Migration document here: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/migration/
There's deprecated functionality, due for removal soon, where liking a URL as the admin defined in that page's Open Graph meta tags resulted in an 'Open Graph page', similar to a regular Facebook Page, being created.
There's a migration option available now which will create a regular Facebook page and migrate the fans across to the new page, details of which are on that document. I believe it's as simple as enabling the migration option in the app settings and navigating to the admin interface for the Open Graph page where a button will be present to start the migration
When setting up pages on Facebook, there seems to end up 3 pages.
A Page that represents the website, i.e., when someone Likes the website, they like a newly created Facebook page that represents this website.
A Page that represents the brand, this is a true Facebook page, as created by the user.
An Application Profile Page, which is created by the user because the website in (1) allows endusers to login using their account.
Pressing Like on the website does not +1 the like count on the brand page in (2) above, likewise, liking the brand page doesn't update the count shown on the like button on the website either.
The App posts updates to users profile, with a link back to the App Profile Page, although it has the same functionality as the brand page, is empty as the brand page is the one being maintained.
You can't choose a username for the app profile page, nor change its category, nor 'use' facebook as this page, nor 'check in' to a profile page, nor set any other information like address/phone number; so you wouldn't want to use the profile page as the brand page as it's missing these features.
To clarify, the Graph API contains 3 objects that essentially represent the same thing, their types are as follows:
type = "page"; representing the brand
type = "website"; representing the website of the brand
type = "application"; representing the ability for the website to login via Facebook
Each of these Graph objects collects their own Likes.
How can the likes be collected under a single identity? Why can't a single Graph object/page have all the features that each type of page above has to offer..?
So, a few thoughts:
The Open Graph tries to represent the world as a collection of Objects, with Types. A Facebook Page is one type. A website is another. You might have a Facebook Page, but not a website. Or a website, but not a Facebook Page. An Application is something completely different too (although it's confusing, since they DO give Applications profile Pages...). Lots of folks with websites and applications don't use a single App.
So they do not always represent the same thing, which is why they are not the same thing.
But sometimes they do, sort of, represent the same thing (as in your case).
When this happens there are a couple tricks you can do to improve brand coherence on Facebook.
1) On your website, point the link button to your Facebook Page
<div class="fb-like" data-href="http://facebook.com/mypageurl"></div>
This way at least you have a slightly more unified Like count. You can't hide/disable Page likes, so the best you can do is try to funnel website likes to Page likes. Users will see your Page Like count on the website, and when they like your website your Page count will increase.
2) Have a link on your App profile page to your regular Facebook Page
If you are using an App to publish things, there is that small tagline at the bottom of the post that links to the app. Some folks will click on it. Just add a link to your description in the sidebar saying "Visit our page here!". If there is nothing going on with your App page except a link to your real Page, I don't think you will collect too many Likes on the App page.
(I think you could also set up a custom landing tab on your App page that redirects users to your Facebook Page if you want to get real fancy. It used to work, at least, not sure if it still does.)
EDIT: 12/9/2011 Facebook is removing App Profile pages:
http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/611/
It's all kind of a pain, I know. Perhaps worth filing a bug about? But there is a reason why things are the way they are, I don't think you have to worry about the App page all that much, and there are some ways to mitigate the problem.
Good luck!
I am importing the posts and comments in my FB fan page to my custom website. I am importing using graph api. In the response array I am getting two types of action URL for "comments" and "likes".
See below :
http://www.facebook.com/149263441795729/posts/240758399312899
Using this link in following code
<fb:like href="http://www.facebook.com/149263441795729/posts/240758399312899" width="450" height="80"/>
I get the following error
The page at http://www.facebook.com/149263441795729/posts/240758399312899 could not be reached.
How can I like these posts or comments from my website? Is there any solution for that?
I think--I'm no expert here--that redirects such as this are controlled by Facebook, with a cross-site scripting policy file on their servers that say whether or not they will allow redirects and to who. On my website for example I allow anybody to cross link, since I'm just a little guy, but I bet Facebook only allows it with preferred partners like various corporations, see the story below. That would be my best guess.
Paul
http://thenextweb.com/facebook/2011/09/15/facebook-may-be-adding-cross-linking-to-foursquare-yelp-gowalla-and-more-on-pages/
Facebook may be adding cross-linking to Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla and more on Pages
Facebook appears to have added cross-linking between Pages and other location-based sites like Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla and SCVNGR to its Pages, reports Scribbal. Tech evangelist Robert Scoble posted a notice on his Google+ profile earlier today that indicated a new partnership between Foursquare and Facebook as the Page for a place was shown to direct viewers to the comparable location on Foursquare.
The links appear off to the left underneath the ‘Like’ count and checkin count on a location’s page. The only question that remains is whether the users are activating these connections themselves or if it is something that is done automatically. This could be Facebook’s plan to integrate itself with other location sites now that it has distributed the Facebook Places features throughout its framework.
Facebook has been on a tear lately, adding the Subscribe button and smart Friends list features just this week, as well as Facebook integration into the new Skype for Mac. It is clearly making an effort to maintain its lead over Google+ as the preeminent social network and it doesn’t want lack of features to be a reason for anyone to quit it.
We have reached out to Facebook about this new feature and will update this post when we hear back.
I am a PHP developer, but completely new to this Facebook stuff and am getting all confused. The whole Apps vs Pages vs Fan Pages terminology is driving me nuts. Please help!
My client's requirements:
1) Display Like button on a single web page
2) When Like button is clicked, content on the page is unlocked and displayed (PHP)
3) Future visits to the page detects that visitor already likes the page, and content remains unlocked (PHP)
4) All updates to web page profile on FB will show on Likers' news feed
My understanding is that the cleanest way of doing (3) above is to use the PHP SDK. But to do this, I need to create an app (to get the App ID). So I created an App. I 'liked' the App from my FB profile. Updates to my app are posted to my news feed. So far, so good.
However when I try and implement the PHP SDK, it only works if I authorize the App to my account first. Is there a way of avoiding this authorization step just for a simple "Like" (I ask because I didn't have to authorize anything when liking the app within FB)? If this authorization is unavoidable, are there any alternatives to Apps that would allow me to achieve the above requirements?
Ideally, I'd like to use just "Pages" to do this, and not Apps, but I believe I cannot achieve (2) and (3) with pages, correct (remembering everything needs to be server side, so no JavaScript showing and hiding layers etc)?
I would be grateful for any guidance.
Thanks.
So I'm assuming what we are talking about here is a Facebook tab - the 520 pixel wide applications that can go in Fan pages?
If not, you will not be able to make this happen without permissions. It sounds like that is what you're talking about, though.
Here's an example of an Facebook tab on the Coca Cola fan page:
In a tab, the PHP SDK will tell you if the user is a fan of the page (not of the app, of the page). You'll need to read the signed request - there will be a parameter there called Page, which tells you if the user is already a fan (see https://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/signed_request/). You get this without having to authorize.
I usually read all this and store whether the user is a fan in a boolean variable. Then later in my page I'll do something like this:
<?php if ($isFan):?>
Content for fans here
<?php else:?>
Content for non-fans here
<?php endif;?>
Keep in mind that it is only telling you if the user is a fan OF THAT PAGE - if you set up your app on a test page, for instance, it'll tell you if the user is a fan of that test page or not, NOT if the user is a fan of your app.
In order to read what a facebook user likes using the PHP SDK, you will need the user_likes permission. You may however, be able to hack something together by rendering a like button on your page somewhere and detecting the color of the button, meaning the user has liked the page. This may be problematic because of cross domain issues considering the like button is rendered as an iframe.
Best of luck!
For some things, you need an app. Like restricting access to content if the user has "Liked" something. You need custom code to do that. You don't need an app for a basic "Like" button, but you really can't get any stats on the Likes. You can link an app to a website, so that you can report on the content and referrals. If you go to http://www.facebook.com/insights/ you can link the app with a website so the insights/reporting are combined. Just click on the "Insights for your Website" button. It does require validation.
That said, your confusion is the norm. Apps, Pages and Fan Pages are almost the same thing. They are all referenced through numerical ID. There are subtle feature differences between Pages and App Pages. An app can be added to any Page if it is configured to do so. But you can't add a Page to another Page.
You can use FQL to query if a user is a fan of your app, instead of the Page you are currently on.
Facebook controls what gets shown in the news feed. Just because you post to the feed, doesn't mean it will show. However, if you are an admin of the Page and/or App, posts will always show in your feed.