Wordbook is out, WPBook is in
Posted by melodieshouse on May 21, 2009
Unfortunately Wordbook does NOT work in Facebook like I expected it to. It only posts a link to new posts to my wall and doesn’t display my feed in Boxes like the author said it’s supposed to. So I installed WPBook by John Eckman of Open Parenthesis instead. This plugin mirrors the most recent posts of my blog to Facebook and comments can be left from within FB and they also post to my blog site. This is just what I was looking for! WPBook by default shows the last 5 posts in their entirety and links the 10 most recent posts. I edited some of the plugin’s .php files to set my list of recent posts in WordPress to the max of 15. I wish this plugin could show 50+ items like FB’s Notes does but WPBook is much better because users within FB can see my posts in their entirety and comment within FB and it’s like commenting on www.melodieshouse.com. You can also link to related posts, even if they’re old, and WPBook shows them in FB. I give WPBook a hearty thumbs up.
However, there’s a couple of things I’d like to see WPBook do in future updates. 1st, I’d like to see it post an update to the home page and wall whenever a new post is added. 2nd, I’d like to see the ability to view blog posts from a tab within my profile. Mr. Eckman, did you get that?
John Eckman said,
Yeah, the wall update / notifications is a common request – just haven’t had time to code it yet.
Having a tab is a bit more complex, since there are restrictions on content that can appear in tabs – might conflict with the ability of WPBook to carry flash video, advertisements, javascript, and work with a broad number of WordPress plugins – though I am looking into it.
mom2mom said,
Hey, thanks for coming here to comment. I’m looking forward to future updates to WPBook, as it’s a very promising plugin/app. I think the home page/wall updates are most important because that’s where our FB friends look first and I know (I think I speak for most anyone who wants to promote their blog) that I want to get my friends’ and network members’ attention with new blog post updates. However, someone really needs to step up and improve upon what the FB Notes app does with blog feeds. It makes no sense to post just an excerpt and have it open to comments that don’t crosspost. And there needs to be a quality plugin or app that will allow multiple feeds. Doesn’t have to be unlimited, but allowing say, 3 feeds per profile or page would be soooo useful.
Joe said,
I have a question. I have 7 Facebook Fan Pages under one Facebook account. I am using WordPress MU in which I have 7 different blogs that correlate with these 7 Fan Pages. Right now I have been manually copying the automatic tweet that is sent out when I post the blog and the pasting it to the corresponding Facebook Fan page. Is there a plug-in that posts blogs to pages instead of using account information? Is there anybody working on that? How do I solve this? I cant use Disqus because it wants the API code for the one Facebook account. How do i get comments on Facebook from those separate Facebook pages, which are under the same account, to post on the blog that is corresponds with? I know this may sound jumbled but do you know that I am asking? LOL
mom2mom said,
Sorry to take so long to reply, I’ve been really busy and neglected my blog, but I also didn’t really know how to answer until today. WPBook is a combination WP plugin and FB application (you create your own application using the API’s per the documentation). It actually creates a mirror of your blog in FB and you can put a widget in your sidebar or Boxes tab. It works with both personal profiles and pages. Comments posted in your WPBook app cross-post to your blog. You can set up multiple blogs. The only drawback is it doesn’t post a link to your wall. However, you can invite people to access the application. To post a link to blog posts on the wall there’s WordBook but I don’t know if it supports pages. Adding a feed to Notes will only allow one RSS feed and I think that’s per account, not per page. I think WPBook is great I just wish the author would work in posting to the wall/feed.
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