After a few disappointing weeks without much in the way of major updates, Facebook explodes onto the scene with a huge Operation Developer Love update. There are four major updates coming to the Facebook platform today that developers will want to take advantage of.
Facebook has been pushing the mobile platform a lot recently and today’s update just further cements their dedication to the platform. They’re introducing a new shortcut for mobile payments that will help developers monetize their content on mobile devices. In essence, the new feature allows developers to match their price points with those of mobile transactions imposed by carriers. It also redirects buyers directly to the mobile payment dialog instead of showing the usual Credit Card and PayPal options. Check out the documentation here.
Another change is coming to how Facebook handles platform dialogs across both the desktop and mobile Web versions of the site. All dialogs, including Feed, Pay and Auth, will now open inline by default for Canvas and Page Tab apps. They feel that this provides a better user experience, and it gets past those pesky pop-up blockers. Check out the documentation here.
Access tokens can sometimes be difficult to work with, especially when it comes to checking information that’s associated with them. That’s why Facebook is introducing a new API endpoint that eliminates the need to debug said tokens. Developers will now just have to issue an HTTP GET request to see all the information on any particular access token. Check out the documentation here.
Finally, Facebook wants to remind developers to start using the Payer Promotion Unit in their apps. It’s the special deal where Facebook subsidizes the cost of credits so developers can offer free bonuses to first-time payers. They found that getting somebody to pay for in-game content just once can usually lead to a lifetime of virtual purchases in your game and others. Developers who have already started using the PPU can now advertise their special promotions via a banner on their app’s canvas page. Check out the documentation here.
Like always, Facebook has done a bang-up job of fixing bugs across the site. They report that 187 bugs were submitted this week with 69 being accepted and 27 being fixed. You can check out the full changelog over at the blog post.