Facebook Change: Eliminating Link Customization

Tre Balchowsky
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read

Changes are coming. At this year’s F8 — Facebook’s Annual Developers conference — Facebook announced that they would be depreciating the ability for pages to customize links by editing metadata as part of their overarching mission to curb fake news. That change started rolling out yesterday.

Don’t worry! I’m going to break down what this change looks like, what you need to be aware of, and what you need to do to make sure your links on Facebook still look amazing.

Okay, let’s break this change down into plain English.

Metadata is a set of data that describes and gives information about other data. In reference to websites and blog post, this includes title, description, featured photo, and keywords.

​​Prior to this change, pages were able to manipulate the way link information appeared in their posts. When publishing a link, you could change the photo, add a second or third photo, change the title, and swap out the description. All of that editing functionality has been eliminated.

Now, when you (or anyone else) publish a link, the default title, description, and photo will be displayed without exception. Note: While this change is rolling out, it may appear that you can change the title and description but it may revert back to the default.

Facebook made this change in their continued effort to cut down on click bait and fake news on their platform. In their post on the topic, Facebook said, “By removing the ability to customize link metadata (i.e. headline, description, image) from all link sharing entry points on Facebook, we are eliminating a channel that has been abused to post false news.”

What does this mean for you?

Clean Up Your Metadata

It’s time to get your metadata in order. Keep in mind that this metadata isn’t only used for Facebook but also search engine display, so by taking these steps, you are fixing two problems at once.

When writing a blog posts or building a landing page, a default title, feature photo, and description will be selected by your web platform. For blog posts, this is normally the title given to the post and the first sentence and the first photo in the post. If these items don’t best represent your blog, it’s time to go into advanced settings and change them.

Each platform has a slightly different procedure for changing the metadata. Below you will find links or tutorials on how to edit on each platform.

Wix

Page Description

Blog Post Title and Description :

Changing Post Title and Description on Wix

Medium

Blog Post Title and Description

Wordpress

Blog Post Metadata

Squarespace

Page Metadata

Publishing Platforms

If you use a third-party publishing platform such as Hootsuite, Buffer, or SproutSocial, there are a few things you should note.

Your scheduled posts with modified metadata will revert when published. So, while your preview in your pulsing platform may show your edits, it will go back to the default description, title, and photo when it publishes.

Your publishing platform may still allow you to make changes to metadata, but they will eventually catch up with Facebooks changes and make their way towards parity (industry term for matching the native social network’s functionality). Be aware that though you may be able to change the description in your publishing platform, it will still revert to default when it is published to Facebook.


Originally posted on Black Parasol Consulting’s blog.

If you have any questions about how this change is being rolled out or how it will effect you, please leave your questions in the comments.

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