Win a Facebook Static FBML Contact Form Application Tab for your Fan Page
Posted by Analisa in Social Media / Inbound Marketing, Web Coding on March 1st, 2010
It’s time for another freebie from HyperArts! Last month we offered a free FBML page to our fans and followers (stay tuned for an update on our winners and their custom pages).
This month we would like to give away a custom contact form tab. You can see the contact form that we have on our HyperArts Page, which looks like this:
Winners will receive a static FBML application tab with a functioning contact form. This will appear on your existing Fan Page as a separate tab.
To be considered for this prize, please send an email with the subject line “FREE Contact Tab” to smo at hyperarts dot com.
Include the following information:
- Name
- Website
- A link to your existing Facebook Fan Page
Also, become a fan of the HyperArts Facebook Page, where we answer questions, share information and advice, and generally have a good time.
Contest Deadline: April 1, 2010.
Facebook Fan Pages – Show content to Fans Only – Static FBML
Posted by timware in Social Media / Inbound Marketing, Web Coding on March 8th, 2010
If you want to show content to your fans, and require that a visitor to your Fan Page become a fan in order to view the content, here’s a nice bit of FBML to render content on your Facebook Fan Page only to fans. Easy as pie….
First, on your Static FBML page, begin with the following:
<fb:fbml version=”1.1″>
Wrap the content you want to hide from non-fans within these tags:
<fb:visible-to-connection></fb:visible-to-connection>
Then end your page with:
</fb:fbml>
And that’s it! The content contained between <fb:visible-to-connection> and </fb:visible-to-connection> will be visible to fans only.
Other Resources
Adding iFrames to your Facebook Application – 2010
Posted by timware in Social Media / Inbound Marketing, Web Coding on March 8th, 2010
In early 2010, Facebook made some modifications to the API which made the embedding of iFrames more restricted. Although they are no longer supported in Static FBML tabs, iFrames can still be implemented on application Canvas Pages. However, rather than an iFrame loading automatically — as it previously did on Canvas Pages — a user action — a click — is now required to load the iFrame.
In a PowerPoint that Facebook circulated in late 2009, Facebook explained the upcoming changes:
iFrames
Preserving iFrames (on a custom tab)
If you currently use an iFrame in your page and must preserve the content of one or more of your iFrames: Create a wrapper application that lives on a canvas page. This application can have iFrames since it sits on a canvas page. Have this light weight application include the image of what you want to display, with an “Activate” button. Link the “Activate” button to the canvas page wrapper application. More information here.
And here is that “wrapper application,” written in JavaScript:
Read the rest of this entry »
How to Embed a Flickr Slideshow in your Static FBML Tab
Posted by timware in Social Media / Inbound Marketing, Web Coding on March 2nd, 2010
Please refer to my tutorial on adding Static FBML to your Facebook Fan Page for details on adding Static FBML to your Facebook Fan Page. This tutorial shows you how to add a Flickr slideshow, created from one of your “Sets” in your Flickr account, to a Static FBML Application Tab.
Embedding a Flickr Slideshow / Set in your Facebook Static FBML Application Tab is fairly straightforward. Here’s how it’s done:
Create a Flickr Set
If the Set that you want to be the slideshow is already created, skip to Step 4. If you need to first create the Set that will be the Flickr slideshow…
After logging in to your Flickr account….
Read the rest of this entry »
Guide to Corporate Blogging and Guest Bloggers
Posted by Analisa in Social Media / Inbound Marketing on March 2nd, 2010
When launching a company blog, you want to get everyone on board. Even the people who are not directly contributing to the blog should know the blog’s mission statement. Your company is embarking on a journey that is different from traditional marketing and PR. This is a community effort, and your entire staff should understand the following ideas.
Your company should establish a set of guidelines, simple and clear, that outlines your goals and rules for the blog that will be read and followed by any contributor. The following list offers some general tips that will make any corporate blog easier to read, more likely to be shared, and much more relevant to your readers.
Share these tips with anyone who writes on your blog:
1) Gain Trust:
“Only 16% of online consumers who read corporate blogs say they trust them.
If you blog, your goal should be to create a blog about which people say “I like that – I don’t think of it as a company blog.” For the most part, that’s a hurdle you need to jump to gain their trust…
If you want to be a thought leader and helper for your customers, and you blog frequently about those customers’ problems and solutions, then you can generate trust. Want an example. Check out Rubbermaid’s blog.”
From Groundswell
Changes in Facebook – Boxes, Tabs, FBML and More
Posted by timware in Social Media / Inbound Marketing, Web Coding on February 24th, 2010
As many know, Facebook is planning some pretty significant changes in the coming weeks (or thereabouts) that developers really need to be aware of. These are not trivial changes, but significant changes in how information is displayed. Here is the PowerPoint that was distributed earlier in 2010.
The Big Picture….
- Reduced width of tab width from 760 to 520px;
- No iFrames;
- No Boxes, neither tabs nor boxes on the left-hand column of your Wall/Info tab, underneath your Page’s profile picture.
Facebook, in a PowerPoint that’s been distributed and is available here, states:
As part of a larger effort to improve user experience and promote consistency across the site, Facebook will be modifying Page and Profile layouts by simplifying how identity is managed and displayed.
Changes to layout:
- Tab width changing from 760 to 520 pixels [Discussed in a previous HyperArts post]
- Pages will no longer be able to implement iFrames on their Page. All custom content will need to be on a separate, custom tab, which you can add using FBML or a custom application.
- Boxes will no longer appear on Pages or Profiles. This means that Pages will no longer include the Boxes tab, or the Boxes that currently exist on the left-hand column of your Wall/Info tab, underneath your Page’s profile picture. You can move the content that currently exists in Boxes to a custom tab.
How to Add an iFrame to your Static FBML Page
Posted by timware in Social Media / Inbound Marketing, Web Coding on February 23rd, 2010
Mar 3 2010: It appears the below iframe method is no longer supported. However, you can still embed iframes into Facebook applications, just not in Static FBML. You’ll need to create an “iFrame” application that includes a “wrapper application” (a simple JavaScript app will do) to trigger the iFrame. I have written a post on how to create a Facebook application with embedded iFrame.
You cannot have an iframe in a Static FBML application tab that loads when the user hits the page. As with JavaScript, Facebook requires a user action before it will execute JavaScript or load an iframe.
Note: We believe that the “late February 2010″ changes Facebook has announced may include eliminating the implementation of iframes altogether. They have stated “Pages will no longer be able to implement iFrames on their Page. All custom content will need to be on a separate, custom tab, which you can add using FBML or a custom application.”
So, given that restriction, how do you add iframe content to your Static FBML page?
Pretty simple. Here’s the JavaScript:
<a onClick="outside_location.setInnerFBML(link_1);" style="cursor: pointer;">Let's see that iframe....</a>
<div id="outside_location"></div>
<fb:js-string var="link_1">
<fb:iframe height="500" allowTransparency="true" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="width:100%; border:none" src="http://URL-TO-OUTSIDE-LOCATION"></fb:iframe>
</fb:js-string>
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8">
var outside_location = document.getElementById('outside_location');
</script>
The user action that is required is clicking on the “Let’s see that iframe” (for example), which then loads the iframe and external URL.
Resources
Pulling Wufoo forms into an iframe in Static FBML
HyperArts Post on embedding an iFrame in a Facebook Canvas Page application in 2010
Recent (2010) discussion on Facebook Platform Developer Forum
Too Much Buzz?
Posted by Analisa in Social Media / Inbound Marketing on February 12th, 2010

People ask all the time, will we get tired of so much social? Social media, social networks, social business, social marketing…
I don’t really think that’s the right question, especially because sites like Facebook have shown us that people like social, even if they tend to be slow to the uptake at first. I would ask instead, in what manner will social become completely intertwined with all online activity?
Win a Free Facebook FBML Application Tab!
Posted by Analisa in Social Media / Inbound Marketing on February 8th, 2010
UPDATE: The contest has ended, and we will announce winners by the end of this week.
Stay tuned for more info on discounts on FBML pages…
Call us crazy, but we are giving away our Facebook Page development services for free. We have received many inquiries about our custom FBML page, and Tim’s posts on FBML are wildly popular, so we wanted to share the love with you!
A business or organization that comes to us by Feb 22nd, with the following requirements, will win a FREE custom-designed Facebook Page tab (a simpler version of our custom tab).
The winner must:
- Have an existing Facebook Fan Page (in addition to a personal profile or group);
- Supply 2-3 images;
- Supply text, with hyperlinks, if desired;
- Be willing to make HyperArts a temporary admin of your Page (for implementation purposes);
- Be a fan of HyperArts!
We will design and develop a page for a business or organization that contacts us regarding this contest, simply email smo at hyperarts dot com with the subject line “Free FBML Page” and please include the URL to your website and your Facebook Fan Page.



In my earlier 