*TECHIE ALERT* This post topic might confuse readers who do not have a basic understanding of Facebook and html.

While developers have known this since about August, many Facebook users are just starting to learn that Facebook plans to get rid of FBML and replace it with I-frames. If you are not familiar with FBML, it is the Facebook application that allows you to add custom tabs on your business page. It allows you to put in html for those welcome pages, contact pages, and so on. Well, apparently after the end of the month, you will no longer be able to add these tabs to your page. Instead, you will need to rely on web developers to help you make your page stand out. (That, or start learning how how to work with i-frames and javascript.) It appears that tabs you have already created will remain, but there will be no new applications for fbml tabs. If you aren’t familiar with i-frames, those are those embedded windows that show you another site within a site. But without being able to embed html in your own tabs, a developer will need to set those up for you, leaving you at their will. The only cool thing is that if you change the source of the i-frame, it will change what appears on the tab.

This can be seen as a big hit to those solopreneurs who have learned how to maneuver html or those FBML entrepreneurs who have made a business of helping others create the custom tabs. It appears that it is getting harder and harder for small businesses to compete with large brands who have web developers on staff.

Just when you thought Facebook and small businesses might be making up (when they repealed the $10,000 advertisement requirement for promotions), they go and pull something that might threaten our ability to use social media to market affordably.

As much as I like to help empower businesses to do things themsleves, I can’t teach you how to use this new system yet. However, I do have web designers and web developers on board that could assist you in the future with your Facebook pages, so just let me know.  

As always, comments are appreciated. Tell me, what is your opinion on this new Facebook move? Do you use FBML and how will it affect you?