Facebook just introduced a new, standardized like action for mobile apps. The new like buttons are supposed to offer better integration with
Facebook, as seen in apps like Instagram and Foursquare. The advantage of the new mobile like action is that if someone likes a photo on Instagram, you will see a notification on Facebook, and it will appear on Facebook’s news feed. As opposed to some custom ‘like’ buttons you may have experience with, the people pressing ‘like’ will have to authorize the app on Facebook before the stories are shared to Facebook notifications or the news feed.
It’s a good thing that the official solution will be compatible with the user’s authorization preferences, as Facebook will be removing support for custom like actions. Developers have 90 days to switch to the new ‘like’ action. This could have a negative effect on old apps which are no longer actively maintained.
On another positive Facebook now requires that the like function to be tied with a ‘like’ action. In their example, rating an app 5-stars can only be registered as a rating action, not a ‘like’ action. Obviously the APIs can’t ‘know’ if a developer violates Facebook’s branding guidelines, so it will be interesting to see how this regulation is enforced. As someone who gets annoyed when I find I’ve ‘liked’ posts against my intent, it’s good to see that Facebook is addressing the issue.
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Facebook, as seen in apps like Instagram and Foursquare. The advantage of the new mobile like action is that if someone likes a photo on Instagram, you will see a notification on Facebook, and it will appear on Facebook’s news feed. As opposed to some custom ‘like’ buttons you may have experience with, the people pressing ‘like’ will have to authorize the app on Facebook before the stories are shared to Facebook notifications or the news feed.
It’s a good thing that the official solution will be compatible with the user’s authorization preferences, as Facebook will be removing support for custom like actions. Developers have 90 days to switch to the new ‘like’ action. This could have a negative effect on old apps which are no longer actively maintained.
On another positive Facebook now requires that the like function to be tied with a ‘like’ action. In their example, rating an app 5-stars can only be registered as a rating action, not a ‘like’ action. Obviously the APIs can’t ‘know’ if a developer violates Facebook’s branding guidelines, so it will be interesting to see how this regulation is enforced. As someone who gets annoyed when I find I’ve ‘liked’ posts against my intent, it’s good to see that Facebook is addressing the issue.
You can follow us on Twitter, add us to your circle on Google+ or like our Facebook pageto keep yourself updated on all the latest from Microsoft, Google, Apple and the web