Facebook is rolling out some major changes to how Pages work. Some are good, some not. The good changes include the new layout of facebook Pages with the tabs on the left sidebar instead of at the top, and, starting March 11, 2011, the ability to use iframes, HTML, Javascript and CSS without the FBML App! This is going to totally change how you can develop facebook Pages! Party time!
One of the recent changes in the “not so great” category is facebook’s decision to remove the “Suggest to Friends” link on facebook Pages. Admins of a page can still access this feature in the Edit Page area, but fans cannot. So, we’ve been flooded with requests to add an Invite Friends Tab to facebook Pages. Here are the steps for how to create the Invite Friends Tab on a facebook Page, but keep in mind that as of March 11, 2011, facebook will be deprecating the FBML App.
- Go to Static FBML App and click on Add to Page in the top left corner of the page. You will then see a list of your facebook pages. Click “Add to Page” to add the application.
- FBML is now added to your page.
- Go to the facebook Page you’re working on and click Edit Page.
- Click on Apps.
- Click on the FBML Apps and click on Go to App.
- Give the Tab a title like “Suggest to Friends.”
- Copy and Paste the below code replacing illuminea with your organization.
Important! The action URL on line 3 of the code MUST be http://example.com and NOT http://www.example.com. No WWW welcome at this party.
If you don’t follow these rules, you will get an error that says “Sorry, your request could not be processed. Please try again.”
[html]
<fb:request-form
method=”post”
action=”http://facebook.com/illuminea”
type=”illuminea”
invite=”true”
content=”Connect with iluminea
<fb:req-choice url=http://www.facebook.com/illuminea label=’Go’ /> “>
<fb:multi-friend-selector actiontext=”Invite your friends to connect with illuminea” rows=”3″ cols=”3″ showborder=”true” />
</fb:request-form>[/html] - Save Changes.
- Go to Edit Page > Apps > Click on the Suggest to Friends App you created > Go to Edit Settings and click “Add” where it says Available (see screenshot).
- You can see this in action on illuminea’s facebook Page.
- When your friend receives the invitation it says “Friend has invited you to “Static FBML”. Not so pretty so for now make sure your message text is really good! I hope there will be a better solution for this.
