All things considered, there are immense benefits and challenges if you decide to customize your Facebook fan pages with iFrames. But then again, the only way to add new customization to your existing page or start a new page from scratch is by using iFrames, at least for now.
Why did Facebook change?
Many believe that the main reason Facebook switched to iFrames from FBML is so that the social media giant can offload the burden of running custom Facebook fan pages with FBML. As you probably know, FBML was an extremely popular app that millions of pages used to customize their tabs and add more functionality to their content. But Facebook had to host all the custom pages, which naturally meant it was only a matter of time before they stopped carrying the load and passed it back to users. Hence, the adoption of iFrames.
What exactly are iFrames?
An iFrame is basically another HTML code that allows you to embed a web page into another web page, which in this case is your Facebook fan page. Essentially it means that the responsibility for hosting your custom Facebook fan pages falls on you and your server. Facebook will host the Page and will stream the content you upload via iFrames. In return, you get more flexibility in terms of the content you can add to your Facebook fan page.
What content can I add using iFrames?
Well, pretty much almost anything you can do on your own site, from order forms to product pages, exclusive content areas, video, audio, and dynamic design. In short, rich, dynamic content that you can design to fit in with your other Internet properties and preserve your brand, while taking advantage of Facebook’s inherent viral and buzz marketing capabilities. Page analytics and performance are also easier to track because you can embed your tracking code on your pages as well.
Are Facebook Fan Pages and iFrame Tabs difficult to create?
To create an iFrame-compatible tab, you need to develop an application on the Facebook Developers website into which you’ll embed your content hosted by your server or web host. Once created, you can deploy this app to your Facebook page as another tab and use it like you would any web page.
Of course, all of that assumes that you have server infrastructure and knowledge of web development, or staff to easily customize Facebook fan pages with iFrames. Small businesses and entrepreneurs will find it more difficult to employ these page customization projects, especially those with no prior coding experience. An alternative would be to find custom Facebook fan page developers or providers who can help build the app, iFrame-compatible tab, and host the content.