Prior to the recent homepage change, many developers were loving a massive unfiltered distribution channel of application updates: the Facebook stream. Since the redesign that has all changed, and today Facebook is making one other change to the stream. Previously, feed stories from applications could display multiple images. As of today, multiple images can still be displayed, however the default display will only show one image and require the user to click “See More” to see the full feed story.
It’s a subtle interface change but many developers know that this could have a significant impact on feed dependent applications. In addition to smaller images, developers will also need to keep all action links in feed stories to less than 25 characters. It’s a change which makes the stream look much cleaner however it will also definitely impact some applications.
Most developers have already been forced to adjust to the stream changes as the default news feed is no longer unfiltered, which means today’s impact probably won’t be as significant as the recent homepage changes. Other things which developers should note about today’s changes is the deprecation of a number of methods, primarily those that dealt with the old “feed” object.
Developers should only interact with stream methods for publishing stories. That includes the option of using Stream Attachments which are essentially JSON-encoded key-value pairs. Enough technical speak though! If you are a developer and want to know more about today’s changes you can view Facebook’s blog post from last month.
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That’s great because I really grew tired of seeing so many updates in such a short space of time.
Comment by AnthonyB — November 10, 2009 @ 12:14 pm
I think it is going live next Tuesday and not today. I still see the old feeds
Comment by Ramprasad Rajendran — November 10, 2009 @ 10:28 pm
So much for this making a difference, a few apps I visit still prompt me to post a feed every time I visit. Not clicking anything, just for visiting they want me to publish a huge advertisement for visiting. Even though the rules clearly state….
“In order to encourage intentional behavior, you will no longer be able to automatically pop up a Feed form for a user unless that user has explicitly indicated that he or she wishes to share this information. A user should never be surprised by a Feed form.”
I guess I’m not surprised anymore since they try to post each time I visit.
Comment by Ray Ray Angel — November 11, 2009 @ 2:12 am
The main facebook website is f**king up for me and my dad (different pc's) and i think its to do with the new changes
Comment by Jay Nicholas Turner — November 11, 2009 @ 8:47 am
yeah seems to be a bug in their implementation of the 25 character limit to links in the bottom of application posts. if the link starts with a bold tag and gets cut off at the 25 limit, before the bold tag is closed, the text in subsequent posts on the stream also become bold
Comment by maxi millian — November 11, 2009 @ 9:03 am
I want to know what is going on all the changes. To the games I have been playing. With all the changes you have done per vents me to play the games. Farm Ville and Farm Town and others. If not I am droping face book all together.
Comment by Toll Jeffery — February 28, 2010 @ 5:48 pm
How is it some posts have images auto expanded to show 3 images across ? If anyone can msg me the difference in the post that accomplishes this, thanks much in advance.
Comment by Richard — April 22, 2010 @ 10:10 am