FBML Essentials: Facebook Markup Language Fundamentals

by Jesse Stay

Do you have an idea for a Facebook application? With FBML Essentials , you'll learn how to build it quickly using the Facebook Markup Language (FBML) and other easy-to-use tools in the site's framework. If you can develop a website with HTML, writing a Facebook application with the help of this book will be a breeze.

Of course, Facebook is not just another website. Any applications you write for it will have a potential audience of 16 million dedicated users. It's not just another social networking site, either. Under the surface, Facebook is pretty sophisticated, with a development toolkit that includes it's own modified version of HTML -- FBML -- to customize the look and feel of your Facebook applications.

With FBML Essentials , you not only learn how to get started with this toolkit, you also get a complete reference on every FBML tag Facebook has ever written, with examples of how each tag works and advice on the best ways to use these tags in your code.

This book

If you want to try your hand at writing a Facebook application, you have a willing audience, an easy-to-use toolkit, and the perfect guide to get you started. FBML Essentials will help you take your idea from conception to working application in no time.

Genres: Programming

188 pages, Paperback

First published July 22, 2008

About the author

Hi – I’m Jesse Stay! As a 13-time author on social media marketing and techonology books and former professor of social media advertising and advocacy, I founded Stay N Alive as an answer to multiple requests by companies wanting a very unique strategy to growing their audiences through digital and social media marketing.

As a software developer in my original days, I consulted and helped build some of the top apps on Facebook. I actually worked for Facebook and helped develop some of the original documentation for Fortune 50 companies to integrate their websites and apps into Facebook Connect. Companies saw this talent and before I knew it they were asking me how they could grow their Facebook, Twitter, and other audiences. I combined my knowledge of APIs, data, and pixels to begin building unique strategies for growth and focus on conversion goals to success for clients, and before I knew it Stay N Alive was born! This is my baby and my dream – I want to show you the future of marketing!

In 2008 I embraced the “Facebook developer dream” by building apps, and helping companies build apps on the newly-released platform for developers. Before I knew it I was helping out some of the top apps on Facebook, and even spent time building the developer documentation for Facebook during the launch of Facebook Connect. I even developed initial design specs for We’re Related, which made it to number one in the app store (yes, there used to be an app store on Facebook!). Soon, I was being asked to help companies grow their audiences using my deep knowledge of social media.

Around 2009, I built an app called SocialToo.com, built as a solution to help brands grow their Twitter audience and following. We built tools to help brands grow, and produced some of the first analytics for Twitter showing how many, and who were following the brands utilizing our service. Our customers included @pepsico, @brittneyspears, and even @mchammer!

I spent 3 years kicking off and running all social media initiatives for the LDS Church, including not only the religious elements during what Newsweek defined “The Mormon Moment” with the candidacy of Mitt Romney, launch of The Book of Mormon Musical, and launch of the “I’m a Mormon” campaign, but I also helped launched social channels for Brigham Young University (BYU), the online bookseller owned by the Church DeseretBook.com, the real estate developments of City Creek Mall, and the International growth initiatives throughout Asia and Eastern Europe and Africa. I even led the launch of FamilyShare.com and growth of over 20 million followers and 1 million pageviews within its first month of launch through our unique growth technique and use of “Passion Pages”, or verticals within social media branding channels.



I was named by Mashable as one of 20 Developers to Follow, and one of 10 Essential Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter. I have been regularly featured on Techcrunch, Mashable, Venturebeat, Readwrite, AdWeek, Forbes, USA Today, The New York Times, and other publications. I designed and taught LDS Business College’s SMM160 Social Media Advertising and Advocacy course, and have written 9 books on the topic. I have written numerous online courses on social media marketing. Much of my writing, blogging, and teaching has lead to what many of my own competitors are using to grow their clients. And I will continue pioneering new techniques to grow my clients!

If I haven’t convinced you yet, contact me at jesse@staynalive.com – I’d love to give you a half hour consultation and show you how we might help your brand grow!

Reviews

[Tami · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since its inception, Facebook has been a cultural phenomenon. Dozens, maybe even hundreds, of Facebook like sites have sprung up in a very short time. To say the least, social networking has changed the way that we use our computers and the way we spend our free time.

I picked up a copy of FBML Essentials mainly because I was curious. I had heard that FBML was quite easy to learn, that essentially if you had worked with HTML or XHTML you already had good foundational knowledge.

I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. FBML Essentials provides everything that a programmer would need to make a new Facebook application. The author takes the reader right from setting up a designer account at Facebook through creating specific bits of code.

I began reading the material but quickly decided to play around a bit. At first, I simply replicated the code bits in the book. Very quickly, I began seeing how I could create my own applications using this information.

[Jeff · Rating 1 out of 5]

It wasn't too technical, but it was too focused on the language itself. There was little discussion of good ideas, how to decide which Facebook interface to use (or if you should even be using Facebook at all), etc.

I guess I was hoping for "Facebook Application Development using FBML," but I just got the "Using FBML" part.

[Nate Balcom]

Good FBML resource

[Ankur Pandey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is good but it is too outdated keeping in mind the present era. I stepped on it now 2014, things have changed since 2008.