It is possible to display your WordPress blog on Facebook, and connecting them is not as hard as you may think. There are plugins designed to do exactly that, and with everything social network based, anything that allows you to spread the word can only be a good thing, especially as Facebook applications tend to snowball, and gain more followers.
To integrate the blog you must use the Wordbook plugin, which was developed by John Eckman in 2009. The advantages of using the plugin are clear, as your blog now has two lives, one from the original web page, and one on Facebook.
To set up the connection, you use the above plugin and the Facebook API’s. You will need the following information to connect them.
Root directory of your blog.
Secret – You will receive this from Facebook after registering as a developer
API Key – You will receive this from Facebook after registering as a developer
Wordbook plugin.
Follow these steps to connect the two.
Register as a developer on Facebook, you must already have an existing FB account to do this. Follow this link to register. Once you have agreed the terms and conditions you will receive the following:
Secret
API Key
You will need these later.
You will be asked to submit the “post-authorize call back URL”, and the post-remove call back URL”. In both fields you enter the root directory of your blog with a trailing slash. Effectively, these handle authorizations when a user posts or removes the application.
Next create a canvas page, and enter the root directory with a trailing slash in the “Canvas Call Back URL” field. If you miss the slash, then internal links on your WordPress blog will not work with Facebook.
Under canvas page settings, you are given two options to render the page. iFrame, of FBML. FBML is Facebook’s XML scheme to use Facebook tags such as profiles and so on, and it also access procedures. The Wordbook plugin however, works using iFrame. This option should make the application work a little faster, and only internal links will have to be adjusted on the blog to make them work.
After this is complete install the Wordbook plugin. This installs using the normal WordPress method. If you are unsure how to do this, follow this link.
Once installed you can enter the API key and secret into the relevant fields via the settings panel. You will also need to enter the URL of the canvass page, to enter in the canvass page field. In this field be sure you only enter the name of the blog AND NOT http://apps.facebook.com/. So for my blog I would just enter “Teahon”, and not http://apps.facebook.com/Teahon
The only thing left to do is to choose your options from inside the setting panel on your WordPress blog, and you’re done. Play around a little bit and see what suits you best.
A quick note about privacy on Facebook and how it views websites and blogs. When you link your blog with Facebook, it will view it as another application, and subsequently it will pull through any personal details such as date of birth etc. This is how Facebook creates its social networks. This will also allow the administrator of the blog information about you as a user.
However, by connecting your blog to Facebook, there are possibilities of communities being established around it, and thus with it advertising opportunities you would not normally have had.
In the social networking world, the better connected all your social networking sites are, the better the traffic you generate. In many cases this is the name of the game.
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September 27th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
hello there! I did not know this before. Thanks for putting in detailed steps on how to do this.Thanks, I’ll try this and if I’ll be confuse with some of the steps, I’ll get back here and ask some question.
September 30th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Ohwww.. I have problem in following some instructions but anyway I’ll try to do this. I am willing to do this but unfortunately I am not familiar with most of the said information.
October 11th, 2009 at 3:10 am
Rich Metzger,
October 11th, 2009 at 8:14 am
I admit, I have not been on this webpage in a long time… however it was another joy to see It is such an important topic and ignored by so many, even professionals. I thank you to help making people more aware of possible issues.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:23 am
Why not try to register as a developer on facebook. They will send you plug-ins. It works for me.Thanks for this.
October 24th, 2009 at 3:01 am
I haven’t tried this yet, but if if works, it will be a huge boon. Will report back.
jc
November 27th, 2009 at 10:57 am
This is interesting however, the thing is you’ll need to register on Facebook as a DEVELOPER, right? for you to create connection from your blog to facebook, since the plug-ins will depend on the account, I guess.
December 1st, 2009 at 5:49 am
I am always searching online for articles that can help me. Thank you
December 6th, 2009 at 2:03 am
Very nice read, some great points were made. (This isn’t some dumb spam reply either, I’m a real follower.)
January 29th, 2010 at 2:37 am
already know about this thing from you. yes humor but very informative.
February 14th, 2010 at 2:35 am
Do you design twitter backgrounds by any chance? Or maybe one of your readers?
March 11th, 2010 at 5:15 am
Ohhnice put up but really?/?
April 24th, 2010 at 2:41 am
I aspiration getting on a wrecked center can be so relaxed as following a only some steps.. But its not
May 18th, 2010 at 7:42 am
Appreciation for your guidance!
June 1st, 2010 at 12:36 am
I’ve seen API from twitter, and I appreciate if someone can discuss it to me how this one works. Thank you.
June 23rd, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Facebook is one of the famous social networking site. Very helpful!
June 24th, 2010 at 10:35 am
I have seen ads on the right side of my profile. Is this what your talking about? They’re sharing their blogs.
June 24th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Ohw yeah! I have seen a fashion blog but I did not check on it. It also has like button to click if you like it..
June 25th, 2010 at 8:40 am
I have problem installing wordbook plugin.
i’ll try to do it over again. fail..
June 26th, 2010 at 6:31 am
Wow! I haven’t think of this before. I can promote my site on facebook. I’ll register after this.
June 26th, 2010 at 6:37 am
Nice plug-ins, this will help a lot for my site which totally depends on SU for traffic.
June 26th, 2010 at 6:42 am
I do not see any name of the writer in this page. But anyway, I want to thank you for sharing these to us.
June 30th, 2010 at 8:54 am
WordPress rocks! especially those cool plugins to digg in. Thanks…
July 2nd, 2010 at 12:32 pm
I find facebook as a very good networking site. It is very helpful especially in advertising for business.
July 2nd, 2010 at 2:20 pm
That is so true Keith. I fact, my friend and I were advertising the services being offered by our company. And you know what it helps us a lot!
July 2nd, 2010 at 6:12 pm
THIS IS A VERY GOOD ARTICLE. I LIKE IT, KEEP IT UP!
July 3rd, 2010 at 1:19 am
Just installed WPBook on my blog.
July 3rd, 2010 at 1:21 am
I wonder how WPBook works. Just curious, i’ll try to install it.