Ken Hood

Has anyone else had a problem today setting up a new Facebook iframe app? It seems that we are missing two fields of information in the Facebook Integration section. I'll open a bug if anyone can validate the same problem; missing "Canvas Type" and "Page Tab Type" which seems to have wrecked the loading of the app after it has been installed on a page.

I'm launching a NEW Tab today... it is compliant with Facebook's new iframe requirements. Unlike the "other" custom tabs out there which were built using FBML, this tab won't disappear at the end of the year. Yep... you heard it correctly... any custom tabs you have that have a "gray icon" next to the link... say "bye bye" because Facebook is eliminating them at the end of the year.

If you have "another" vendor who supplied you with a custom tab before March 11, 2011... ask them what they are going to do to update your current tab. Get the details, because they are important.

But we've got your back... so ask how you can get your NEW Agency Profile Tab!

OK geeks galore (you know who you are)... this one's for you. Facebook messed up every new iframe app 48 hours ago by implementing something new in ifarme applications... apparantly without telling anyone. And I mean anyone. When I checked out my new iframe apps in HTTPS browsing... they just weren't there. But neither was Best Buy's custom tabs (apps).... nor Mercedes Bnz, nor Hearsay. The list goes on. So misery *does* love company, and we all eventually figured out what happened.

So just now, 48 hours after the "let's wreck everyone's apps and not tell them" debacle... Facebook posts the new iframe app procedure. You just gotta laugh and enjoy it. So here is the "straight scoop" for developers from the horse's mouth: 

We recently introduced the ability for users to browse Facebook over HTTPS. At the same time, we began providing a “Secure Canvas URL” field in the Developer App for developers to serve their apps through an HTTPS connection as well. Now that we added support for iframe Page tabs, we also have added a “Secure Tab URL” field. Please take some time to add a “Secure Tab URL” as if you have not, we will not be able to show your tab to users browsing Facebook over HTTPS.

(Dear Facebook... you know I love you and was just messing with you. You guys have been awesome- really).

Facebook has changed dramatically. There are new and exciting opportunities for your business page! To kick off the NEW Facebook offereings, I've opened up shop at a new virtual office at MyLocalHosting.com. Please come pay me a visit!

We've just launched new Facebook Tabs for insurance agents. These tabs are built using the newly required "iframe" application technology required by Facebook beginning today. The new "Welcome" tab (which replaces the "Agency Profile" tab previously offered) adds a new feature to our classic look.... "Like Gating" or "Fan Gating" as it's sometimes called.

If your prospect is visiting your page for the first time, or they keep checking on your page but never "Like" it... now we are helping by showing an incentive to the prospect to "Like" your page. When they click "Like" the page will instantly refresh and they will see a "thank you." This can also be used to get "Like" conversions by showing details about your referral incentive programs if they Like your page.

Our new iframe tabs also work perfectly even when your customers browse Facebook using the HTTPS (secure) option. And that just ain't easy to do... but you would expect nothing less from us (shameless plug); we've built over 700 insurance agent websites since 2003.

Because these pages and forms need to be hosted on advanced servers with dedicated IP addresses and SSL certificates in order to protect your valuable clients... we can only offer these on a monthly subscription basis. The good news is that for a limited time... there is no setup fee (new customers only). And the monthly subscription is just $9.95!

Best of all... you can try out the new Agency Profile tab on a 10 day free look. Please visit www.MyLocalHosting.com for more information. We do not even need to become an "admin" of your page... simply click the links below and add these applications to your page. Once you have added them, post on our Wall at www.facebook.com/MyLocalHosting and tell us you have installed the app so we can active your 10 day free subscription.

I want to give a personal heartfelt THANK YOU to the wonderful development community that has done so much to help my coding efforts in the last few weeks. Among my good friends that deserve much of the credit are:

Mailjol (the Allforms guys)

HyperArts (here's to you Tim)

Martin Koss (another soldier plugging away)

Thanks guys.

On March 11, Facebook will force a change on everyone's page that will eliminate "tabs" at the top and move the custom tabs to become "links" on the left side of your page. The existing quote tabs will remain functional until the end of the year, after which, they will need to be replaced with new quote forms and tabs. We are now ready for that transition... thanks in no small part to our partnership with Mailjol (the Allforms guys).

The guys at Mailjol already host over 400 of our custom insurance agent Facebook forms. We trust them and they have proven themselves over the last 12 months. But the team, led by Akash, really went above and beyond this week. They have built, exclusively for us, a new and unique "custom forms solution" for insurance agents using the new mandated code by Facebook.

You can check out the new forms by visiting my Facebook page, Ken Hood Web Design and looking at the links on the left. If you have set your Facebook account to browse using HTTPS (which is unnecessary), you will not be able to see them yet. Facebook is working on this as a high level bug and should have this corrected by Wednesday of next week. Contact me with any questions. Have a great weekend!

This bug meant that even though I could create a new custom tab for you, it could only be seen *if* you were logged into Facebook. If you were *not* logged into Facebook, you would get a blank page. Not cool. But it's fixed... yeah. So I can get to work on custom Facebook Page solutions again for insurance agents. I'm working on new tabs and forms that are better than ever! So tuned!

I'm like a little kid at Christmas... and I get to open my first present! Thanks to Tim Ware at Hyperarts, we now have a trusted tutorial to help us navigate Facebook's New World Order. If you are a do-it-yourselfer, start reading Adding an iFrame to your Facebook Page right now!

The good news for the rest of you is that we will have the opportunity to do some cool new great things within the new custom tabs ecosystem. Stay tuned!