For the past couple weeks, the Static FBML application has been one of the fastest growing Facebook applications. The Static FBML application enabled Facebook Page administrators to customize tabs within their Facebook Page. So does that mean that Facebook Page use has jumped dramatically in the past couple weeks? It could.
While we’re waiting to hear back from Facebook about whether or not their Pages product has experienced a massive uptick, the Static FBML application tripled in traffic a week and a half ago. Between February 27th and March 2nd, the Static FBML application grew from 1.84 million to 5.87 million daily active users. The only reason for using this application is to customize your Facebook Page.
While the surge was only temporary, traffic has appeared to flatten at over 3 million daily users, almost double what it was before. While there are a lot of things we could derive from this increased usage, the primary thing I’d assume is that Facebook Pages just saw a large adoption by marketers following some sort of Facebook promotion. That promotion could have been on the homepage and displayed to all users who had yet to create a Facebook Page.
However the promotion took place, millions of people are now using Facebook Pages and customizing those pages through the Static FBML application.
Update
Facebook has told us that they haven’t been doing any promotions of their Facebook Pages product. As one commenter suggested, this could be part of the shift away from boxes. Aside from that, we have no further information about the surge in application traffic.
I think it may have something to do with the change in profile html, boxes and other apps moving from boxes to tabs function. Most business want a nice landing page on facebook and the static fbml is the way to do it!
Comment by Kathy Cook Colaiacov — March 8, 2010 @ 10:59 am
The reason could be Google Analytics. FBML is one of ways how to insert GA on Facebook Page.
Comment by Tomas Jelinek — March 8, 2010 @ 11:04 am
It could be due to Google Analytics. FBML is one of the ways how to implement this code on Facebook Pages.
Comment by Tomáš — March 8, 2010 @ 11:06 am
No, this had NOTHING to do with a sudden surge in FB Pages. The problem is that on the 27th/28th there was a major outage for many of the largest pages out there where the Static FBML application was removed from pages. It had to be re-added in order to get those apps to appear. While it was a simple fix, it explains why you saw a spike in the Static FBML app being added to pages.
Comment by Brian Gupton — March 8, 2010 @ 11:10 am
I think people are starting to see the potential in FBML for creating a mini-site within Facebook for almost no cost. We have recieved many inquiries about FBML, both on our blog (where we give tutorials and advice) and on the phone from people who want to hire us to make them custom pages.
But Facebook still controls the playing field and will be rolling out changes to the Page format soon…it will be interesting to see how all these new players react to the change in the rules of the game!
Comment by Analisa — March 8, 2010 @ 11:49 am
Does FBML allow GA to be inserted? I thought Javascript is disabled on facebook pages
Comment by Ahmed Tariq — March 8, 2010 @ 12:41 pm
Hello everyone, I am the developer of the My Info application on Facebook that has similar features to the Static FBML, but also works on personal pages as well as fan pages.
I've been following all these articles about the Static FBML's wild growth and want to point out that this app is written by Facebook themselves. It doesn' really make sense to even include it in lists of 3rd-party app popularity.
Its also important to note that because Facebook wrote it themselves, they go way outside of the limits they place on 3rd-party developers. It does a couple of things that my app would do too, if it was allowed. It lets you add multiple profile boxes and tabs using the same app and also lets you change the name of the profile box/tab. Us 3rd-party developers aren't allowed to do that.
I would be interested to know whether there has been a big surge in Facebook fan pages, but I suspect that its more a function of page owners being more aware of apps like Static FBML and My Info (which has also seen sigificant growth). Brands are competing harder on Facebook and custom profile boxes and tabs are a great way to put really unique content on a page in a world where Facebook pretty much doesn't let you do anything unique within their core functionality for pages or personal profiles.
Here are a couple of articles that I've written about how to show off your fan page on your personal profile and Facebook's announcement about all profile boxes being removed soon:
http://xtremelysocial.com/2009/my-info-how-to-sho... http://xtremelysocial.com/2009/facebook-roadmap-r...
Comment by Tim Nicholson — March 8, 2010 @ 3:21 pm