How to use the Hootlet Chrome plug-in now that Facebook has changed the partner API policy

UPDATE: The folks at Hootsuite are seriously "Johnny-On-The-Spot"! They've already made fixes so that the following blog post is already outdated. BOOM!  Nevertheless, I'll leave this post up as a record of how much chaos heavy-handed API changes can cause for end-users. ;-)

In case you haven’t noticed, Facebook made some API changes recently that resulted in a significant shift in how third-party platforms function, even when not being used to post or schedule posts to Facebook.
Here’s part of the explanation/notice from Hootsuite:

“Facebook requires that messages posted to Facebook be fully user generated, and not pre-filled with any content that the user did not write themselves.” You can read the rest here: Facebook Platform Policy 2.3 Updates.

The bottom line is that the Hootlet no longer works like it used to, even if you are scheduling for Twitter, not Facebook. After a little bit of experimentation, here’s how the Hootlet now seems to works for Twitter.

1. Navigate to an article you want to share. Click the Hootlet icon in your toolbar.
2. The new dialogue/share window which pops up will look like this:
   
   
   
   
3. Select the Twitter profile you want to post to or schedule for.
   
   
4. Your Twitter post will be constructed with the following parameters:
   
   
5. Here’s the info from the previous image after being shared on Twitter, noting that the content below the "C" link will NOT show up in your Twitter post:
   
   

Have I left anything out? Let me know in the comments!

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About Eric Wilbanks

Brand strategist. Wordsmith. Change architect. Training specialist. DiSC Certified. Family guy (hot wife and 4 cool kids). Love my Bible, guitars, baseball, and MMA.