So you are getting older, and you decided to let all of your Facebook friends, strangers, and stalkers know about it. You showed up in my Facebook birthday notifications, and I was faced with the recurring dilemma of whether to join the mob who was blasting your wall with flimsy and predictable wishes like “Happy Birthday!!!!!!111” or to just ignore it so my other friends don’t get their little Facebookey feelings hurt because I blew off their birthday last week … while I was doing something more fun than they were.
I started to think of how to wish you a very personal happy birthday on Facebook, but then my creativity was just not there. When I sat down to start your birthday wish, it got a little too rhymey and cutesey with the luck, the duck, and the way I describe a person of your age. Besides, I noticed that your friends seem to be a lot more wholesome than you are. They would probably look at you totally differently if I whipped out one of your old birthday pics, like the one with the g-string incident and beer can pyramid.
Oh, Am I Late? I Didn’t Forget Your Birthday … I Skipped It!
I was never so good at remembering birthdays in my head. My mother is awesome at that, but it didn’t pass down to me in the genetics. She also uses up a bunch of paper by sending old fashioned birthday cards, yeah, mother is crazy, I know!
Thank goodness for technology. I was able to export my Facebook birthdays to my Google Calendar, so your birthday showed up in my home screen calendar widget on my Android phone. It is really cool that you can export Facebook birthdays, but it makes me even more of a jerk for ignoring all of those other birthdays.
The thing is, I could come up with about a squillion good excuses that I didn’t send you a birthday card, write something personal on your Facebook Wall, or at least click “Like” on somebody else’s meaningful birthday wish. The truth is that I just skipped it.
I really like you and all, but you share the same birthday as Prakeesh in India and Hal from Pennsylvania, and since I don’t actually know Prakeesh and Hal, I didn’t want to rock the boat by devoting my moment of birthday wishing to only you. You cannot really hate me for that, can you? I mean, I was just trying to be considerate of others’ feelings.
In order to try and make good on a losing dilemma, I decided to try and give you what you really wanted from your Facebook friends all along. So here it is … a cute kitten, a pound of bacon, a hunky guy, a hot chick, an adorable baby, and a birthday cake. If that is not enough, here is an extra bonus unicorn for you. Facebook Birthday Wishes for My Dear Friend
I would have sent you some kind of foofy and frilly junk from Farmville, but all I found on my plot of land was a bunch of withered corn and chicken corpses.
Whether you are happy because you are a year closer to legal drinking age (damn you for being so young), or upset because your adult diaper is now a regular part of your “birthday suit” (damn you for being so experienced), I hope this will make you happy, while appeasing all of those disgruntled Facebook friends I have ignored.
Did You Skip a Facebook Birthday, Too?
If you have a Facebook friend that you feel bad for neglecting, I welcome you to share this birthday wish with them, to explain your dilemma and make them smile again. You can even tag them in your comments below if you are feeling extra lousy about it.
Perhaps by now you have seen a few blogs using Facebook comments. If you have not seen it yet, you can witness it in action here on “SEO and Social Media Marketing Blog”. Go ahead and look, if you must … but we will get to that part anyway.
When I recently added Facebook comments I was so excited about the increased commenting and Facebook sharing that I knew others would want to know more about it, too.
I want to tell you about some really useful features of this free service, including SEO (search engine optimization) benefits, enhanced user-experience, increased social interaction, and more. Then, I will give you step-by-step instructions on how to add Facebook comments to your blog (or any website).
So, let’s get started. Before I give you the step-by-step “How To”, I want to explain some huge benefits. After all, it really doesn’t make sense to do this if you don’t know why, or how it can benefit your website.
Maybe I should have split this into two articles, but if you are just here for the installation, jump to the installation now. It could get a little geeky around here for some people, but haven’t you ever really wanted to know what makes geeks tick? Read on my “non-geek” friends. I have some love here for you, too!
Facebook Comments Search Engine Ranking Benefit
It is not a secret that Google and Bing use information from social media for ranking websites. Since December of last year, it has been speculated that one of the strongest individual signals Google uses is the number of Facebook shares. That is, the number of times somebody actually shares your website on Facebook. It is really hard to qualify this, and there is a lot of contention in the matter.
Regardless of any potential direct SEO value, when you use Facebook comments, it greatly increases the probability of people sharing your blog on Facebook. Of course, they don’t have to share it on their Facebook wall when they comment, but the option is selected by default. The way I see it is that unless I am ashamed of something I am reading, I will usually share my comments on Facebook, along with the originating article. Other people seem to react the same way, and since the option is so simple and right there in front of them, is it easy to see why it will increase the probability of a blog article receiving more Facebook shares. Facebook shares can lead to blog posts, Twitter conversations, and a whole list of other possibilities. So, in the end, the SEO benefits can come in many forms.
Although Google cannot see much of the information shared on Facebook, there is still a lot of reason to suspect that the crawler can find at least some of it. In case you are doubtful of the value of Facebook sharing to SEO, here are some influential third party references on the matter:
Below is a video from the third article in the list. If you don’t have time for it, just know that Facebook sharing can potentially benefit your search engine rankings, and that Facebook comments are a huge step toward a more interactive user experience … another big step toward good SEO.
Let’s not forget that in addition to the benefit of Google and Bing using Facebook sharing in their rankings, it also opens the floodgates to more people seeing your website. That means more people to potentially share it along to their friends. Oh, it all gets so exponential and mathematical … I think I may need another cigarette!
Facebook Comments Enhance User Experience
User experience sounds so cliché and empty to me, but you understand the notion. Making your website easy and familiar is imperative to its success. The end-user is why we all work so hard to make our websites feel easy and familiar, like sweatpants and a pair of flip flops. It has to be comfortable, or people will stop coming back … or coming at all.
On the other hand, if you focus the website on benefiting the end-user, before you know it, that hard work all starts to make a lot of sense. People start blasting it out to all their friends about how they almost peed their shoes when they found the one website on earth that actually smelled like bacon, and rubbed them like a teenager in the back seat of a Camaro.
Add More Nasty Camaro with Facebook!If you want to call it “User Experience”, go ahead … I am thinking about the party in the yellow Camaro with steamy windows! Then, before I fall asleep, I will paw through the fridge in search of that bacon I smelled. That is how I see “user experience”, and you can flop on my virtual couch any time. It’s comfy, isn’t it?
Here is how Facebook comments improve the user experience: Let’s face it, everybody who ever wrote a blog wants to see comments … even if only to point out a typosnaphical error. They want to know that they didn’t do all that work for nothing. If you are reading this, you probably have a blog, so you know what I mean. The challenge is in making comments an easy and natural response for the people who read your work.
Of course, you could look at it this way: Maybe everybody except you is a lazy, no-good, deadbeat blog lurker who soaks up your hard work, and laughs in your face when they click away to their next victim.
-or-
You could consider that there are a lot of busy people, and even a lot of them who really don’t know much about blogs, or the benefits of participating. They don’t all know the value of getting to know all of those other readers with the same interests. This makes it your job, the blogger, to fix the challenges. You need to make it easy, and natural to leave a comment, and Facebook comments do just that!
Shoe-peeing, Camaro-sweating, bacon-scented, unicorn-kissing, all-you-can-haul-out-the-door-for-a-dollar brilliant content is not always enough. You have to make it so easy that getting up to deal with a bad case of diarrhea can wait just a few more seconds while they shower you with their lovin’ words.
Facebook Comments Increase Social Interaction
With well over half a billion people using Facebook, it is a lot more recognized than your blog. People know how to use it. Facebook is a comfy, cozy, snugly, familiar place for many people. Those Facebookey people are not so shy to communicate on Facebook. They do it all the time. That is what Facebook is there for, and that is also why it is on my blog (and probably on your blog soon).
Facebook comments meet the challenges of familiarity and ease of use like a hungry blogger meets a greasy bacon sandwich. If people aren’t talking to you, and each other, with Facebook comments on your blog, you can believe it … they really just don’t like you, or other people … At All.
Some interesting things to note is that when somebody comments and elects to share it (along with the article) on Facebook, it will appear simultaneously on the blog, and on Facebook. Replies to that person will then be visible to them on their Facebook Wall, as well as a link back to the article.
For those who have their employer set up properly and visible publicly on Facebook, another neat feature is that their title and company Facebook Page link will appear. That can create additional possibilities for business networking. Of course, the user’s Facebook security settings still apply.
How to Add Facebook Comments to a Blog
The list of nice features goes on, but we can chat about that in the comments. That way you can see how neat it really is from a user perspective. Let’s get to the part about how you can add these nifty Facebook comments to your blog. I am going to explain it based on WordPress, but it is similar for other websites.
I looked for a a plugin for this, but I didn’t find one, so I may write a Facebook Comments WordPress Plugin (actually just a relatively simple installation script) if I get the time. The closest plugins I found were to import comments from Facebook notes, but that is not the same thing at all. This is how to actually include and synchronize Facebook comments, likes, and shares on a website.
This is really not very hard, but Facebook’s documentation is so lengthy that it could get confusing if you don’t know what you are looking for. So, I am going to include the links you will need to visit on Facebook, and what to do when you get there.
If you need help, that just makes a good case for why blogs have comments in the first place.
Step One: Create a Facebook Application – This does not mean going to school for web programming, and creating an app is much easier than it sounds. All you have to do is click here, then click on “Set Up New App”, enter an App Name (like the name of your blog), agree to Facebook’s terms, and then fill in a few more easy blanks.
Once you have the app set up, hold onto that info for a bit. You will need the application ID number in the next step.
Relax, you can do this … really. If you get confused, just add your questions in the comments below, and somebody will help you … probably me. If you start feeling a bout of rage coming on, just put down the weapon and ring me up. I will do it for you for a song. Well, actually a song along with some of your money, but not all of it.
Step Two: Load the JavaScript SDK – If that “creating an application” thing sounded hard, this one sounds like having to share a sleeping bag with your mother-in-law. It is actually quite simple. I don’t know why they make it all sound so difficult.
In this step, all you are doing is adding the basic information the application will need for your website, in the format Facebook needs it. It looks daunting to some people, but if you just look at the example, and find where it says “YOUR APP ID” replace it (the letters only) with the ID number you received when you created your app.
You can either go and copy the code on the Facebook Developers JavaScript SDK page, or just use the snippet below. I suggest using the version where it says “Loading the SDK Asynchronously”. You only need the one snippet of code, and this is the one I use here on my blog. Just be sure to put your new app ID where it says “YOUR APP ID” in this code.
Here is the code you will need:
Step Three: Copy and Paste the JavaScript SDK – If my mother is reading this, she is probably going to the kitchen junk drawer for glue. That copy and paste thing drives her guano-crazy. I will handle it for my mom when she gets hot on her blogging career, but for you, this will be a snap! Take that snippet of code from above (edited with your new app id) and open your WordPress Theme Editor. It is right there in that place where you add new blog posts. More specifically at http://YOUR-DOMAIN/wp-admin/theme-editor.php (unless you have some freaky-deaky version of WordPress). This is where you can see a list of your theme files sitting there ready to beat up like a row of red headed boys in pink high-water pants.
Pay Attention and Stop Beating Up the WordPress Redheads
The precise placement of this code is not a huge issue. You see … this really is easy! I added mine into the “Header (header.php)” file in my theme. It could have a slightly different name, but you have something like that, where it has all of that header-ish kind of stuff. Within that file, you’ll see words like “head”, “body”, “meta”, and a lot of others. I added my “JavaScript SDK” snippet immediately below the “body” tag. You can see where it is in my source code if you like, but just don’t go giving me any “Grandma Guilt” if you don’t like the html comments in my source code. Just search the code for the word “body”. It’s there … you can find it … I have faith in you.
Paste it your code somewhere right around there (or exactly there), but keep that same page open. You still need to shove some more stuff in there.
Step Four: Add Facebook’s “xmlns:fb” Namespace Attribute to Your HTML Tag – That sounds worse than it is, but we want this to be easy. So, while you have that header file opened, look for this: xmlns=”http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml” and add xmlns:fb=”http://www.facebook.com/2008/fbml” right behind it … well, with a space, of course.
So it should turn out to look like the example below. Just copy it and replace the old one.
Step Five: Add the Open Graph Protocol – I swear these Facebook guys smoke some crazy stuff to make this sound so darn complex. This is just a series of meta tags … little bits of information about your website and the specific pages, so Facebook knows what it needs to know.
Here is the code you need, with very minimal editing if you are using WordPress. All you need to do is edit the parts in CAPITAL LETTERS. You can pretty it up with line breaks and stuff if you like. It really makes no difference in function.
Step Six: Add the Comments Code – Ahh, this is the easy stuff. You are almost done. You need to paste the code below on your website where you want the comments to appear. In your WordPress theme editor, just click to edit “Single Post (single.php)” or the equivalent in your theme. It may be named differently, but don’t let that eat you up. I added it immediately above my existing comments. Just search the file for the word “comments” and you will probably find it really quick.
The only editing you will need to do here is to adjust the width (520 in my example) to the width you want it to appear on your blog, and also the “num_posts” for how many comments you want showing before the “show more comments” link appears to users.
That should do it. Save everything and start enjoying more comments and Facebook shares.
What About WordPress or Disqus Comments?
To me, WordPress’ built-in comments, Disqus comments, Intense Debate, and etcetera are not replaced by Facebook comments, but rather enhanced.
Disqus is Here to Stay
You cannot import your existing blog comments into Facebook (at least for now), and I still enjoy all of the features of Disqus. So I think it makes good sense to keep an existing comments system in place.
I am keeping Disqus right here where people can embed videos, upload photos, and all the other great networking benefits, but I am also pretty excited about the new addition.
Which one will you choose to use to add your take on the matter? If you don’t leave me a comment, I may just think you are a snob, so please redeem yourself! Oh, and give that share button a whirl, unless you are ashamed of me. 😉
More Useful Facebook Articles:
(You didn’t expect me to stop here, did you?)
Tagged on Facebook!I know, I just slapped a lot of Facebook’s 400,000,000+ users with an insult. The real insult is how many “Chicken Little” minds there are out there crying “The sky is falling!” You are a “grown up” right? You can take responsibility for things you say and do, right?
I have read about the biggest fear-mongering pitches ever surrounding Facebook’s privacy settings. I see people moaning about how all their privacy has been taken away and they feel all exposed. They whine about the fact that they actually have to take responsibility for the stupid things they don’t want the rest of the world to see. For me, that has simply been obvious. I mean, I keep my wallet in my pocket instead of leaving it on a counter at the airport. I have routers and virus protection to keep my data safe from prying eyes. If I don’t want somebody to have something, I just don’t give it to them.
If you are afraid of things like somebody tagging you in a photo on Facebook, how do you feel about blogs, email, or even fax for that matter? Is it the service’s fault for transferring the information? That seems kind of absurd to me, considering that transferring that information is exactly why people use Facebook. If people will just take a little time from their selfish Facebooking life to set how they want their information to be handled, maybe they can move on and complain about something else.
Facebook Privacy Beyond Facebook
If you are concerned about what somebody will see, keep it off the Internet. Did you forget that anything on Facebook or any other website can be copied and pasted, printed, or otherwise reproduced without your authority? Who are you going to blame for that? Will you blame the copier company?
“Facebook is not the whole Internet. What if they take the photo and email it and post it on their blog? Would you like Facebook to control that, too? What if the Internet didn’t exist at all? Couldn’t people still be embarrassed by a bad photo? Marilyn Monroe was, and she didn’t use Facebook.”
“That is the business they are in, but that does not make Facebook, Google, Twitter, or any other site responsible for our indiscretions, or for our privacy. I do not want my documents read when I take out the trash, so I shred them. I do my part to protect my privacy. My privacy is my responsibility. What others do to reduce my privacy by posting a photo or writing something about me is often beyond my control. That does not make me stay indoors. I just know that if I pick my nose while I am in public, those in my direct contact may not be the only public who see it. The fact that there is a venue to share it does not mean the venue should be blamed. It is like blaming the phone company for somebody sending a fax about you. The person doing the faxing is at fault, and not the phone company or the fax manufacturer.”
My point here is this: If you want to blame Facebook instead of yourself, it is like blaming your Internet service provider because you got a virus but did not protect yourself with up-to-date antivirus software. Take responsibility to know the services you use online. If you are not willing to take the time to know the rules of a service, and to keep up to date with those rules, don’t use the service. Nobody is breaking your arm to use Facebook.
Let’s be grown-ups and stop blaming everybody but ourselves for our personal responsibilities. Go set your Facebook privacy however it makes you feel comfortable, or delete your Facebook account like many fear-mongering technophobic users are suggesting.
Defending Facebook
Facebook is a corporation that makes decisions based on their interests. That is the way a corporation is supposed to work. Sure, you can whine that they should ask your opinion, but it seems apparent that they have a pretty good feel for what people want. Maybe you think a company with such a big omelet can do it without breaking a few eggs, but I don’t see anybody else attracting 400,000,000 people across the world for their great plan.
It seems to me that with a user-base larger than all but three countries in the world, they are doing just fine without you in their boardroom.
