Built a pretty cool reveal application. And i set the application tab as my Default Landing Tab. It seems like Facebook is ignoring that and using my wall as the default page. I know for a fact that this was working and it just stopped recently... Did Facebook make a change again? Is this a bug?
the page is
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Web-Inspired-Inc/195395460536233?sk=app_281819945171158
If you are the page admin or if you have already liked the page, it will always default to the Wall.
Try "unliking" your page. The default tab is only the default for people who haven't liked you.
Edit: Unliking the page won't have any effect if you're an admin. I have a 'fake' FB account that I use to test things in my apps. Not strictly compliant with their TOS, probably, but it's the best way I know of to really see how normal users see your apps and pages.
Related
Or they are dead now?
What is the next alternative for facebook tabs?
I want a HTML/PHP page using FMBL on my facebook page, but I am not sure if it is still possible.
FBML is deprecated, the "Static FBML" App is not available anymore.
You could try this now: https://www.facebook.com/staticHTML
I did not test it though, and the best way to create tabs is to create an app on your own:
https://developers.facebook.com/apps
It´s not really hard to do, tabs are just iframes and you can program the pages like a real website. Just keep in mind that you need a server with SSL for canvas apps and tab apps.
Has anyone experienced this? Facebook says the Fan Page is for admin purposes (view insights, etc.) but the page itself seems to have limited functionality. I can't edit it like a normal Page and the "About" and "Description" fields were populated automatically but are duplicates of each other. Again, I can't find a way to edit the fields without messing up the actual App description. What can I do?
Not sure how much this will help but, I'm pretty sure I merged my app fan page with my regular fan page earlier, and it wreaked havoc on everything. If you are given the opportunity to do that anywhere, don't, because you can't reverse it...
I have created a Facebook page for our business, and I created a Facebook App to get a AppID in order to use it in the Facebook plugins.
I've noticed that a Facebook App has a page which looks the same as a Facebook Page.
Which one should I use for promoting to the public? The App Page or normal Page?
You should be promoting your business page. That's what people will be searching for.
Essentially, all objects within the Facebook sphere are represented by a Page. Your app gets one of it's own which, if you were so inclined, would mean you could use it to promote your application. I would also recommend locking down your application's Page so the wall doesn't get filled with spam and other dubious and possibly malicious links. You can do this in the Page settings.
Promote the normal page(www.facebook.com/pages/yourpagename). The application page is where you would promote the application you built but it sounds like you just need a appid.
A significant difference between an app page vs a normal page: the app page does not show the number of people who 'like' it. It shows the number of MAU instead.
You have to promote the normal Page. In the normal page you can add a tab that link your application.
One other bit of information: If you create an ad in facebook which links to your page then it will have a like button and will show the current number of people which like your page when it is served to people.
If you have an app then it will not have the like button, but if people use your app then when an ad is served to someone that has a friend that used the app they will see a social context in the ad 'jonny B used(or played if a game) your [app/game name]' at the bottom of the ad.
I'm writing a mobile app where I intend to allow facebook posts. Now, I'm a bit confused with what I want to do.
For authentication I need an actual app page.
Fan page has analytics and in general seems more friendly for users
So I'm debating what to do:
Just use an application page. That's what Zynga seems to be doing
Have both application page and fan page. This seems to be what some other apps (Doodle Jump) do, but I worry that it may confuse users / dilute presence by fragmenting user likes, as if you click on the link of a post ('posted by app'), you go to the application page.
The main goal of our page is communicating with users / create a sense of community.
Since choosing a custom name is a permanent decision, I would like to hear your thoughts on pro/cons of each approach.
I've gone down the route of using the appplication page as the 'fan' page, and not end up with 2 versions - because you are correct in saying you'll end up dilluting your presence. You don't want you app to produce great newsfeed stories only for them to link to a dead quiet page where as you might have a busy fan page else where.
Use an app page if you are prepared to accept its current limitations, such as:
You can't 'use' it as a page like fan pages. So you can't write comments etc using the pages identity.
Although intermitant, some autocomplete drop downs only show fan pages and not app pages. For example, if you had a app page for Acme Corp; and you wanted to update your personal profile to say you work there. When it asks 'where you work' the autocomplete searches only regular fan pages, and not the app pages.
That said, I believe these limitations will be solved eventually as Facebook align their pages. (They made it possible to merge place and fan pages for example).
I'm currently creating a very basic Facebook application and I've run into a bit of a roadblock, so any help would be appreciated.
My application is as follows: I want to have the application pull records from my database that the user has added to my site off of Facebook and display them in a tab on one of their fan pages. Everything the user could add or edit will be done on my site (not on/through Facebook) so all I need to do is have my application check which page is requesting and display their records. I imagine the install will go something like this: user signs up on my site, user adds app to their page, user links their account and fan page (thinking of the best way to do this), user adds records.
The problem I'm running into is there's barely any information on the new Facebook PHP-SDK (does not use the require_login() method) and I'm not really sure how to start. Again, the only functionality I need on the Facebook end is for them to be able to add my application to their fan page and be able to distinguish between which page is requesting my app.
Does anyone have any resources for creating a basic application with the new SDK? Facebook's dev section is absolutely no help for beginners and I'm pulling my hair out despite a pretty solid grounding in backend development.
Thanks!
tab apps have some limitations comparing to regular fb apps. You can read about those here.
How to make a tab - register a facebook app, fill out "Tab Name" and "Tab URL" fields in the profiles settings (you might need to fill out "canvas" settings first).
Now all tabs will be loaded from "Tab URL" on your server. How to find out who is tab owner - check for fb_sig_profile_user request parameter in your tab page handler, which contains owner's user id.
This should get you started.