WordPress Plugin Review: Simple Facebook Connect
Posted by Nile | Posted in Plugins | Posted on 04-24-2010 | 3 Comments
Tags: facebook, plugin review
There are a lot of Facebook applications out there to help a blogger publish their posts on their fan pages and profiles, but I have not found them very handy. In fact, it took quite a few tries to get it right. I found Simple Facebook Connect. I recently started a new project called FandomNews.com. The front end is not designed yet as I am working with another individual on the backend to get things prepared before even focusing on the front end of the site.
One of the features that the site needed was the ability to automatically post content to the site’s Facebook fan page. I was not havinig any luck getting already existing Facebook applications to work, so I turned to the WordPress end and found Simple Facebook Connect.
This plugin has several features.
- Post to Facebook profile OR fan page
- Adds Facebook Comments
- Adds Facebook auto login
- Like Button
- Widgets for Events, User Status, Live Stream, and Fan boxes
and much more!
This plugin was created by Otto. The instructions to set this up on your site while being able to use the Facebook API is also on his site. I plan to to a simple step-by-step tutorial as a follow up to this article soon. There are just not enough information out there that people understand that even if an application is set it up, the developer will have to to wait until Facebook approves the application.
Requirements for this plugin are PHP 5.2 and WordPress 2.9.1 and above. Also the email address used for both Facebook and the WordPress needs to be the same.
Although I did not need the other frills, the posting part was great. I am thinking of slimming the plugin down to a bare bones plugin… although I will give credit to Otto for his hard work.
Have you used this plugin? Is there a similar one you have used – and does it work right? Are there any reliable and working applications on Facebook that will publish the posts to a fan page and profile immediately?
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I started using this plugin suite on one of my blogs about a month or so ago, and it was much easier than trying to do something myself. I was already looking into doing Facebook development anyway, so I was familiar with some of the terminology and options. Still, the instructions on the Facebook app setup were still helpful.
I will say that at first, the large number of individual plugins that are installed all at once was a little unexpected in the beginning – just because you don't normally see that type of setup. It took a little time to get used to what all the different plugins were for and some experimenting, but I ended up liking the modular approach.
Waiting to see what the v1.0 release brings and where the future of Facebook Connect goes as I believe FB is looking to shut it down. Otto certainly gets a lot of credit for creating and maintaining this set.
My recent post Book: iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and JS
I use it for one site, but as you pointed out, Facebook might be looking to phase this type of API use out. I started turning toward RSS Grafitti (a Facebook app) that works and has a lot of options for publishing more than 1 feed into a profile…if you have more than 1 site. It allows you to also specify how many minutes after you publish a post to share it on FB, and you can add it to any profile or fan page.