In an effort to halt fake news and prevent misinformation, Facebook is gradually stopping the ability to edit link previews attached to posts.
“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.” Facebook
This is good news for reducing misrepresentation of link content, but it’s frustrating if you frequently find that the content you are sharing is not actually well represented by the website’s meta data.
What does this mean?
As of July 2017 Facebook halted the ability to customise link previews (the image, title or description) for Facebook group and profile posts. These changes also apply to all of Facebook’s API integration partners, so your ability to edit link descriptions in social media management platforms like Hootsuite will also be halted.
As you can see below, if an article (such as this one from Social Media Examiner) is currently shared on a Facebook page you can alter the description and the image. Pages will not be affected by this change until a later date, but it’s coming!
How can Link Previews be altered?
Facebook pulls link previews from a website’s metadata. So if the website preview is from your own website you can log into the back end of your site and alter the meta title, description and image relating to your page. If you share a link to a website that is not your own, you no longer have control over what link information is pulled into the preview and you will no longer be able to alter it.
What to do if the default Link Image or Text is misleading?
You may well find that you share a link to an interesting article or website and the image and description which is pulled into the preview is actually not relevant, or the description is simply blank. This could be because the meta data on the website page is incomplete, or because a less relevant image or text snippet from the same web page has been pulled into the preview. Since Facebook is removing the ability to alter the image and description which accompany the link, you might find that simply sharing an image to accompany the link is preferable.
If you have any more queries about sharing content, get in touch.
Marie Leverett is our expert Social Media Consultant and a real digital whizz. From Facebook ads to Google pay-per-click campaigns, Marie understands exactly how to generate demand and build buzz online.