Facebook applications are perplexing

February 12, 2008 12:04 AM

[Facebook-filter] Are there any Facebook applications that allow me to display an XML file on my Facebook Page?

Just a quick question, really:
I've set up a Facebook Page (not a Facebook Profile, by the way) for a non-profit I help out with, and I'm trying to get the Last.fm charts for that same group to be displayed on the page. I've just got this simple XML file that I want to show, without much pizzazz, on my Facebook Page.

Anyone know of a relatively simple application that will do this?
Or do all Facebook apps have to be developed around a specific XML/RSS file?

Yes, I already know that Last.fm produces its own Facebook applications, but these are limited to users, not groups, and similarly cannot be used on Facebook Pages, but only people's Profiles.

(FYI, the file I'm working with looks like this, but for another group)

You'll have to forgive me for not knowing too much about how this whole FB app thing works.

posted by the_arbiter to computers & internet (6 answers total)

I'm sure there are a few FB applications that deal with RSS feeds that could help you.
posted by divabat at 1:59 AM on February 12, 2008

I've tried a few of them, and the problem is this: they're either not allowed to be used on Pages, only on Profiles, OR, they can be on Pages but aren't able to display the XML file because it's not formatted precisely the same way that an RSS feed's XML file would be.

(I assume that's why they don't display.)
posted by the_arbiter at 12:58 PM on February 12, 2008

Short answer, you'll have to write your own, or get someone to write it for you. It seems like a relatively simple thing to do. Have you got a web server which can run PHP or other server-side code?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 4:51 PM on February 12, 2008

Yes, we're already running PHP on our own server, so I guess I could develop something that gets displayed as a facebook app.

In general, I've found the applications available from other developers to be too specific or too gimmicky; very, very few are worthy of any serious use. Facebook's applications, and the FBML app in particular (which lets me put any text/basic html/fbml on my Page) are the exception here.
posted by the_arbiter at 11:14 PM on February 12, 2008

Nothing else, huh?

Oh well, I guess I shouldn't expect MeFites to be techie gurus.
posted by the_arbiter at 10:56 AM on February 15, 2008

I'm not sure what your point is.

A large number of MeFites are techie gurus.

Do you somehow not accept my point that you need your own custom Facebook app? If you do, then you accept that you need someone to write one.

If you don't, what were you expecting from this thread? You believe that there's an application out there which suits your purpose already?
posted by AmbroseChapel at 3:46 PM on February 17, 2008