Introducing the Facebook for WordPress Plugin
- Exploring the Facebook for WordPress Plugin
- Installing the Facebook for WordPress Plugin
- Setting Up Your Facebook App
- Specifying Post and Page Settings
- Enabling Publishing to an Author's Timeline
Looking to maximize the integration and interaction between your WordPress website and Facebook? Consider installing the new Facebook for WordPress plugin, which enables you to post automatically to Facebook profiles and pages, mention Facebook friends and pages, integrate WordPress comments with Facebook, add customizable buttons and widgets (Like, Send, and Subscribe), and more. In this article, I discuss the features and benefits of this plugin as well as how to install, set up, and configure it for your site.
Exploring the Facebook for WordPress Plugin
Although there are many plugins that integrate Facebook and WordPress, the Facebook for WordPress plugin offers some powerful benefits for WordPress users serious about maximizing the social potential of Facebook.
This plugin for WordPress.org self-hosted sites includes the following features:
- Social Publisher: Publish blog posts automatically to your Facebook profile timeline and/or page, including an optional introduction. You can also mention other Facebook pages and friends in your posts. For example, let’s say that you publish a post that mentions one of your employees who is giving a workshop. The post is published on your website (see Figure 1), on your company’s Facebook page, and on the profile timeline of the employee you mention (see Figure 2), giving you extensive Facebook exposure in one click.
- Like Button: Display a customizable Facebook Like button on your site home page, sidebar, or blog posts. When site visitors click this button, it counts as a “like” for that content and displays on their Facebook timeline and news feed.
- Subscribe Button: Display a customizable Facebook Subscribe button on your site home page, sidebar, or blog posts. This enables site visitors to subscribe to your public updates on Facebook.
- Send Button: Display a customizable Facebook Send button on your site home page, sidebar, or blog posts. Clicking the Send button enables site visitors to send your content to the Facebook friends.
- Comments: Integrate your WordPress commenting system with Facebook, giving your site added exposure. For example, when users comment on a WordPress post (see Figure 3), this comment displays on their Facebook profile timeline as well (see Figure 4).
- Recommendations Bar: Display the Recommendations Bar in the lower-right corner of your site, enabling visitors to like content, receive recommendations, and share your content with their Facebook friends.
Figure 1 Your WordPress post displays a link to the Facebook profile or page of anyone you mention.
Figure 2 Your post also displays on the timelines of any person or page you mention, giving you added exposure.
Figure 3 Integrate WordPress blog comments with Facebook.
Figure 4 User comments display on that user’s Facebook timeline.