Saturday, 18 April 2015

The Facebook Platform is Changing: Make Sure Your Joomla Site is Ready

On April 30th, 2014, Facebook made a sweeping change to how it's authentication and integration platform works. At that time, Facebook introduced the Graph API v2.0 which changed the authentication process, added restrictions to many permissions, changed their Javascript interface and changed how user IDs are retrieved for each user.

When Will Changes Happen

These new changes took effect immediately for all new Facebook Applications created after April 30th, 2014. In about 2 weeks, on May 1st, 2015, Facebook will make these changes mandatory for all Facebook Applications, even those created more than a year ago.

Is My Site Affected?

Last year, JFBConnect was quickly updated to support Facebook's changes with the release of JFBConnect v6.1.0.

If you've just started working with Facebook using JFBConnect on your site in the last year, you're already using Graph API v2.0 with a compatible version of JFBConnect. No change should be necessary and May 1st will come and go without any hiccups. 

If you're using an older version of JFBConnect prior to v6.1.0, features from Facebook, like authentication, will soon no longer work. You'll need to upgrade JFBConnect before then to ensure that your site continues to run smoothly.

How Do I Upgrade?

Upgrading JFBConnect is as simple as installing the latest version just like you originally did. All settings will be maintained and you'll be adding great new features from the 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 release over the past year:

• Yahoo, Instagram, WindowsLive, Amazon, Meetup, VK and Github Integration
• Social Streams for showing your Facebook Page/Group, Twitter or LinkedIn Company feed on your site
• Joomla 3.4 compatibility
• Point rewards in EasySocial, JomSocial and Alpha User Points for social sharing
• Front-end social connection manager for easily associating user accounts to each social network
• Customizable login buttons
• 1-click updates from the extension manager
• Lots of new social widgets
• Various other 'minor' features

Going Forward

The current version of the Graph API is v2.3. While the minor changes between 2.0 and 2.3 haven't been as sweeping as the initial v2.0 release, each new version brings its own alterations in how to communicate with Facebook and what is or isn't allowed by their Terms of Service.

JFBConnect is always keeping up with these changes. We always recommend using the latest version of our extensions to ensure the highest level of compatibility with Facebook on your site.

More Information

For more information on the Graph API v2 update, see our initial blog post about the change.

Or, check out the release blog posts for each recent version of JFBConnect that covers the features above:

• JFBConnect v6.3: Yahoo Integration, Improved Front-End Social Management, Joomla 3.4 Support
• JFBConnect v6.2: Points, Providers, Performance and Widgets
• JFBConnect v6.1: Social Streams; Instagram, GitHub & VK Authentication; Lots more