Amid all of the spotlights on the stage of social media, Facebook remains center stage clearly in high light. When is enough, enough? Here’s 1 more reason to stay in the headlines for Facebook, from the perspective of a Constant Contact Solution provider, but all CTCT users and many other social networking aggregators will be impacted.
NOTICE: Facebook no longer allows third-party apps to post directly to a personal Facebook page*
Facebook recently announced that it will no longer allow third-party apps like Constant Contact’s Social Share application for auto-posting to your personal page. It is just another knee-jerk reaction to the immense pressure the social media behemoth has been feeling.
What Changes Did Facebook Make?
Third party apps like Social Share are no longer able to publish posts on a personal Facebook page. Here’s what Facebook said in a developer blog post:
“Live API Updates:
On August 1st, 2018, the Live API publish _ actions permission, which allows an app to publish on behalf of its Users, will be reserved for approved partners. A new permission model that allows apps to publish Videos to their User’s Groups and Timeline will be created instead.
Access to the Pages APIs requires re-submission of the application for review before August 1, 2018. This will be required to continue publishing live and VOD video to Pages, as well as reading insight”. Source: Constant Contact
No doubt this is in reaction to some of the latest lamb basting they’ve experienced.
The Fix is In (this next section)
Although the Social Share app will no longer auto post to your personal page, there is an easy pivot that you can make to post to a business page. Check here for all the details on how to make the transition.
How Do the Changes Affect Social Share?
Going forward, you won’t be able to post your emails to your personal Facebook page using Social Share. Constant Contact is making updates to their Social Share app to meet Facebook’s new criteria. On July 23rd, 2018:
Any existing Social Share posts scheduled to a personal page will fail.
Linking a personal Facebook page to Social Share will no longer be an option.
Posts to your Facebook business page are unaffected.
Source: Constant Contact
What Can You Do to Prevent Social Share Posts from Failing?
To prevent any existing posts to a personal page from failing, disconnect your Facebook personal profile from Social Share, then connect your Facebook business page and schedule your post to your Facebook business page.
Learn More: Don’t have a Facebook business page? You can create a new business page, or if you’ve been using your personal page for your business, you can convert it into a business page.
There are additional options for posting to your personal Facebook page:
Copy the permanent URL for your email and paste it into a post on your personal Facebook page.
Use Social Share to post to your business page and then share that post on your personal page through Facebook. Source: Constant Contact
Facebook – In the News
You know I am a big fan of Constant Contact. In fact, you probably know that I am a Master Certified Solution Provider, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone why I am sharing this important information with you. The ability to utilize Social Share for your postings is an important means of getting your message out to your audiences.
The pivot to maintaining your postings online is not a difficult one to make, just another step or two and you’re back on solid ground.
As for Facebook, well, you decide my position.
I want to refresh your collective memories about the amount of trouble which Facebook continues to get embroiled. The article written in March of this year provides a timeline of Facebook’s entanglements with its users, but especially the government.
Taking a step back to look at Facebook’s pattern of privacy issues provides an important perspective on just how many times the company has faced serious criticism.
NBC News reported privacy issues with Facebook in March of this year, but that wasn’t the first time negative news appeared. When the company was just two years old, 2006, users vehemently complained when the News Feed was introduced. A year later it appeared before the Federal Trade Commission, and it has continued to ire the users and the government.
They have continually been called before some government body for privacy issues since early, early on. Because we have relatively short memories, it has occurred more than even I thought it did. Here’s the link to the timeline published on March 24th of 2018 which I mentioned. See for yourselves this thing called Facebook has been “bending” the rules and putting people’s privacy at high-risk.
Parting Insights to Consider
You may or may not be aware of something that made the news back in February of this year. Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook, one of the richest men on the planet sold some of his personal shares of the company. The sale in February equates to $12,750,000 a day, or $357 million. It was also noted that his intention was to sell off $12 Billion of the stock and convert it to cash and other securities. This is one month before the fit hit the shan. The talk on the street is that he has escalated his daily sale of shares to the amount of $47 Million a day. That, however, is nothing more than an unconfirmed rumor, but would it surprise you?
What does all this mean? Your guess is as good as mine, but the stock price has been fluctuating for a while now. When is enough, enough?
* Constant Contact Article: 000025501 Updated: June 26, 2018
