Facebook Changing Feed Story Image Specs, Deprecating Some Feed APIs

October 23rd, 2009

By Justin Smith

facebook platform developers About an hour ago, Facebook started rolling out the latest set of updates to the home page and News Feed. Along with the switch back to an algorithmically-chosen set of top stories from the real time stream, Facebook also just announced some important changes to feed stories and the feed APIs that developers should be aware of.

First, Facebook has reduced the number of images that can appear in feed stories by default from three to one. Instead, Facebook is now showing a “See More” link that will allow users to expand all three images in line. We reported a month ago that Facebook was telling developers to start using just one image because it wants app feed stories to look less “spammy” and more like Facebook’s own feed stories. Until now, some apps have been publishing three images in each feed item, each the maximum allowable size under the current specs, in order to get more clicks and attention in the stream. Starting today, the maximum size of images in the stream is also being reduced to 90×90 pixels.

Here’s how the old feed images looked:

And here’s the new feed images format:

In addition, Facebook said today that going forward, the only way to publish Feed stories into the stream will be through the stream publishing methods stream.publish, FB.Connect.streamPublish, and Facebook.streamPublish. Facebook says it will be deprecating support for the following APIs on December 20th, 2009:

Template bundles (Facebook says, “You should start using stream attachments with the stream publishing methods instead)
feed.publishUserAction
feed.publishTemplatizedAction
Facebook.showFeedDialog and FB.Connect.showFeedDialog
Publisher stories that use templates (Facebook says, “please transition them to use stream attachments“)
Feed forms that reference the feedStory form and the multiFeedStory form
One-line stream stories

Finally, regarding the status APIs, Facebook says, “We will still publish stories that call users.setStatus and status.set, but encourage all developers to migrate to the stream publishing methods, as they let you set a user’s status easily.”

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8 Responses to “Facebook Changing Feed Story Image Specs, Deprecating Some Feed APIs”

Ryan Romanchuk Says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:05 pm
So much fun being an app developer on the platform!!
Live-nyheder og “højdepunkter” nu implementeret på Facebook Says:
October 23rd, 2009 at 3:24 pm
[...] for publicering Ud over den tydelige ændring for brugeren, har Facebook bl.a. også ændret lidt i appplikationers mulighed for at publicere til nyhedsoversigten. Hvor der tidligere var mulighed for at en applikation kunne poste tre billeder, er der nu kun [...]
Facebook Changing Feed Story Image Specs, Deprecating Some Feed APIs | umojahosting Says:
October 24th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
[...] Facebook Changing Feed Story Image Specs, Deprecating Some Feed APIs [...]
deona Says:
October 25th, 2009 at 7:29 am
I do not like the new news feed at all…go back you didnt make it better you made it worse. I have not heard one positive comment. Do something…this is not good!!!
Patricia Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Go Back to the old way. I am NOT getting information I liked and used to get. Am receiving TONS of junk I have no interest in. I have to jump to 3-4 different areas to see what I was used to seeing.

You really messed this up!!! Bring it back to the way it was!!!
Chris Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
The other poster is correct. Lots of negative comments have been pouring in about the “new” News Feed. Can’t figure out the difference between News Feed and Live Feed; all we know is it is very confusing. Check out the Facebook page “Facebook: SWITCH BACK TO THE OLD NEWS FEED !!!”. 895,000 members and growing. Please reconsider and switch back.
The Sticky Factor: Creating a Benchmark for Social Gaming Success Says:
October 27th, 2009 at 9:12 am
[...] users to reach out to their friends via the Facebook News Feed with stories and pictures. With several changes to the news feed being rolled out on Friday, including going from a real-time to algorithimic listing of top stories and a reduction in the [...]
Yarden Refaeli Says:
October 30th, 2009 at 5:42 am
They completely RUINED my first FB app launch!
The streamPublish FBJS function is a SHITTY in comparison to the feedDialog one.