Last month, Facebook launched the new Timeline look with more focus on interests, and let users showcase stories from apps in dedicated collections (this is all still in the process of rolling out). Today, the company announced that it is rolling out new tools to make it easier for developers to set up their apps’ Open Graph stories and timeline collections.
“Common action and object types such as ‘video.watches’ and ‘music.listens’ no longer require configuration within Open Graph tools,” explains Facebook’s Caroline Schafer, in a post on the company’s developer blog. “To start publishing common actions, simply select the SDK that you use and paste in the sample code that we provide for each action type.”
Documentation for this is available here.
Facebook has also made it easier for developers to create custom actions and object types, enabling them to preview the stories that their apps can publish to the News Feed. Once a story’s configuration is finalized, developers can hit “Get Code” in the Open Graph dashboard, and past it into the app to publish the action with logged in users.
Documentation for this is here.
“In addition to News Feed stories, users can now add your app’s content to dedicated collections on their timeline and About page,” says Schafer. “For example, a recipe app can include collections such as ‘Recently Cooked Recipes’ or ‘Top Recipes.’ Collections can also have different layouts, such as lists, map, and gallery below.”
Documentation for this is here.
Developers must submit their app’s News Feed stories and timeline collections for approval, so Facebook can make sure they’re up to snuff with their quality guidelines. The review status can be seen in the Review Status section of the dashboard. Developers will also receive alerts when submissions are made, approved or returned for changes.
