Facebook has announced plans to remove all App Profile Pages on February 1, 2012. A banner (pictured above) will appear over the next few weeks to administrators at the top of their App Profile Page. I’ve transcribed the text below:
Removing App Profile Pages
By February 1, 2012, we are removing App Profile Pages. You can migrate Likes and the Vanity URL of this Page to an existing Facebook Page with the same name and Product/App category.
Click here to migrate to an existing Facebook Page
App Profile Pages, which Facebook automatically generates, are very similar in appearance to normal Pages. They do, however, differ in features from their traditional counterparts. Over time, the inconsistencies between the two, such as different Insights, APIs, and distribution channels, have become more apparent. Facebook has thus decided that they are too much of a pain to maintain, and is killing them off.
If you don’t do anything before February 1, 2012, your App Profile Page will be deleted and Facebook will send all App Profile Page traffic directly to your app. In fact, if you search for your app on Facebook, the result for it should already take you directly to your app rather than its App Profile Page.
So, what do you have to do before the kill date? If you are an administrator of an eligible Facebook Page (it has to have same name as the app and be in the same Product/App category), you will be prompted with the option to transfer Likes to this Page.
Transferring Likes will let you publish updates to these users from your Facebook Page. The Like migration can take up to seven days, and even after that you may have to wait several hours before you see any new activity on the Page. If you have a Vanity URL associated with your App Profile Page, Facebook will transfer it to the Page so long as one doesn’t already exist for it.
Facebook will only transfer Likes: the content of these App Profile Pages (such as photos, posts, Insights, and any other material that you want to keep) needs to be download and reuploaded manually. It’s also critical to note that after you hit the migrate button, the App Profile Page will be deleted.
From now on, new apps will not automatically get an App Profile Page. Instead, you’ll be asked to create a Facebook Page from the Dev App (Advanced tab => Contact Info section => Create Facebook Page => Confirm). By default, the Page will be titled [YOUR_APP_NAME] Community Page. You can modify this at any time. The Page will have a Go To App button on the top right and the following links on the left menu: Block App, Remove App, Contact Developer, and Report App.
The other date you need to remember is March 1, 2012: on this day, related Graph API object connections will be removed. Facebook will remove the following Graph API App object connections that pertain to information on an App Profile Page:
- /albums
- /feed
- /links
- /posts
- /reviews
- /statuses
- /tagged
To add an app to a Page, Page administrators previously relied on the Add to my Page link found on App Profile Pages. Facebook is now providing an Add to Page dialog that you can embed on your website, app, or Page tab. For more information, check out the Add Page Tab Dialog documentation.
See also:
