Facebook has expanded its integration with WordPress, as the firm looks to tap into the publishing platform’s audience of 600 million monthly viewers to boost sharing on its own social network.
The plugin allows users of both platforms to cross-post their WordPress content to their timeline profiles and pages they manage, as well as to add the names of pages or friends to the posts.
WordPress software is used to create 17 percent of all Web content, according to Facebook’s announcement, accounting for 600 million unique visitors a month. The New York Times and People Magazine websites use WordPress, for example.
The plugin lets content creators have new posts they publish with WordPress appear automatically in their Facebook timeline or company page. Without leaving the WordPress interface, authors can also add comments or tag friends when sharing their links.
A new feature will provide readers with personalized recommendations for further reading on the WordPress-powered website they are visiting, based on Facebook algorithms.
The Facebook for WordPress plugin also makes the following social plugins available as widgets for WordPress:
• Activity Feed: Displays friends’ activity, including likes and comments.
• Recommendations: Allows users to offer readers personalized suggestions for pages, as well as a Recommendations Bar option that enables users the option to add content to their timelines as they read.
• Customizable buttons for like, subscribe, and send.
• Comments Box: Enables readers to comment on WordPress sites and post back to Facebook, including moderation tools and automatic search-engine-optimization support for Facebook comments visibility.
Facebook said in a post on its developer blog that TechCrunch, Buzz Media, and The Next Web are already using the plugin, adding:
“The plugin was built by Facebook engineers in collaboration with open-source partners, and makes it simple for anyone to make their WordPress site more social — no coding required. The plugin will also work on mobile and support internationalization.”
Read the Facebook announcement here
Read the WordPress announcement here
