Partager!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Digg
Windows Live
Stumbleupon
Furl
Blinklist
G Bookmarks
Diigo
MySpace
Twitter
Xanga
Bebo
Twine
Blogmarks
Faves
AIM
Technorati
LinkedIn
Y! Bookmarks
NewsvineFacebook Platform Roadmap Update
We announced a number of new products and updates to Facebook Platform at f8 in April, including the Graph API, social plugins, and support for OAuth 2.0. Over the next few months we will be making upgrades and removing infrequently used parts of Platform to support these new technologies at every level of the stack, while trying to minimize the amount of changes required for existing applications. To keep you posted on the latest efforts to simplify Platform, we've updated our developer roadmap and will continue to communicate upcoming changes through it.
Unifying Platform Tools for Applications and Websites
We have a vision for Facebook Platform that is powerful, standards-based, and easy to use across Facebook.com, the Web, and mobile devices. As part of this, we are unifying the Platform technologies used to build on Facebook.com — OAuth 2.0, the Graph API, and the JavaScript SDK — with the technologies used to integrate Facebook into external websites.
First, we are upgrading the authentication mechanism we use for all callback URLs to be based on OAuth 2.0. You can read more about the new signature scheme and can test it out in your own applications by turning on the "OAuth 2.0 for Canvas" migration in your application settings. This setting will become the default for all new applications during the next couple months.
We are also moving toward IFrames instead of FBML for both canvas applications and Page tabs. As a part of this process, we will be standardizing on a small set of core FBML tags that will work with both applications on Facebook and external Web pages via our JavaScript SDK, effectively eliminating the technical difference between developing an application on and off Facebook.com.
We will begin supporting IFrames for Page tabs in the next few months. Developers building canvas applications should start using IFrames immediately. By the end of this year, we will no longer allow new FBML applications to be created, so all new canvas applications and Page tabs will have to be based on IFrames and our JavaScript SDK. We will, however, continue to support existing implementations of the older authentication mechanism as well as FBML on Page tabs and applications.
Finally, due to low usage rates, we will remove application tabs from user profiles in the next couple months. Application tabs will continue to be supported on Facebook Pages.
Simplifying Platform
In focusing on optimizing APIs that are broadly used by developers, we are deprecating the following features and will no longer support them at the end of the year:
- Infrequently used REST API methods
- , , and functionality
- Data Store API
See the roadmap for details.
Cleaning House
We've also spent some time cleaning up some of our developer tools and documentation. We've simplified the Developer application by removing obsolete settings and tabs, and we have finished migrating the Developer Wiki to our new and improved developer site.
We have a lot of work to do, but we hope these changes will get us significantly closer to our goal of making Platform standards-based and easier to use. We appreciate your feedback in the Developer Forum as we move ahead.
Namita, a product manager focused on Facebook Platform, is excited for a simpler and unified Facebook Platform.
Populaires
Syndication
FlashInfo www2.0
Facebook is growing rapidly in countries like Japan, Korea, Russia, Brazil, India, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands. And as more users adopt Facebook, your applications have the opportunity to gain exposure and reach in these markets. Here are a few suggestions to help you continue to grow your user base around the world.
First, we recommend localizing your applications for the countries mentioned above, where we are experiencing a particularly high rate of user growth. For your existing applications, localization can involve translating them to more languages to make them accessible to more users. Also, when you publish to a user’s stream, try customizing the post to the user’s language and country to optimize for each user group. For example, publishing special updates on country holidays, as well as country-specific graphics/gifts can help target user segments. Another suggestion is to think about localization when developing new applications. Consider how you might design a unique application built for the lifestyles and cultural norms of the countries you are targeting.
Developers who use custom tabs can leverage our new fb_sig_country request header to display different content based on a user’s locale. For example, if your application uses a custom tab to show the latest World Cup standings, you can use fb_sig_country to present highlights for a user’s country. (Note: if you use fb_sig_country, you must also handle the case where the field is blank, because you might not have content for every country in the world.)
We also recommend taking advantage of the new contact importer feature we enabled for the multi-friend-selector, condensed multi-friend-selector, multi-friend-input, and friend-selector. This new feature allows users to easily import their email contacts when sending out invites, requests, or gifts from your application. When users register for Facebook through these email invitations, they will see your application bookmarked on the left navigation menu.
Applications with this feature enabled have seen increased new user growth. In these specific countries, we’ve noted particularly high conversion rates for email invites. Take advantage of this period of time to reach new users.
In the next few months, as Facebook adoption continues to increase in Japan, Korea, Russia, Brazil, India, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands, we recommend both localizing your applications and implementing the new friend-selector tags that enable the contact importer feature. These improvements can help make your application competitive in emerging growth markets.
Huan Yang, an engineer on the Growth team, is excited to see applications grow around the world.
