‘Experimentation’ is a maxim Facebook seems to have adopted without any reserves and reservations. The company’s latest move of depreciating the Like box plugin is indicative of this trend. The social networking giant – Facebook quietly announced its plans to retire Like Box plugin, effective from June 23, 2015.
Facebook Page Plugin
The Like Box is a special version of the Like Button that enables Facebook Page owners to gain likes from their own website. It also shows Facebook profile images of some of the people who have liked your Facebook page. The new Facebook Page Plugin would enable users to embed a simple feed of content from a Page into their websites.
In a write-up on its page for developers, Facebook suggested that they start using the new Page Plugin instead.
“With the release of Graph API v2.3, the Like Box plugin is deprecated and will stop working on June 23rd 2015. Use the new Page Plugin instead. The Page Plugin allows you to embed a simple feed of content from a Page into your websites,” it said.
The revamped plugin, dubbed Page Plugin in similar to the old like box but, a little more visual than its ancestor and allows you to embed a simple feed of content from a Page into your websites.
The use of new plugin requires you to remove the old code and add in the new SDK. The settings on the new page plugin is fairly similar to the old like box as you can notice, once you visit the page.
Do you think, Facebook trying too hard to learn more about you, and does that by any means indicate the company is getting better at determining what you like and what you dislike. Have your say in the comments section below.
NOTE:
- If a website uses the Like Box today, it will not stop working on June 23 — instead it will become the Page Plugin.
- Facebook recommends that site owners upgrade their code to the new SDK and Graph API, as this will allow them to take advantage of the newest platform features. However, if they don’t upgrade, their site will automatically update to the Page Plugin on June 23 — so their site will have the benefit of the new, updated look and functionality without the site owner having to do any work.
