Created How-to: Friendica’s Facebook connector (markdown)

How-to:-Friendica’s-Facebook-connector.md

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+_Note: Special admin instructions are at the end of this document. The first sections are for all users._
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+The Facebook connector is an addon which allows you to interact with friends on Facebook from within Friendica. It is a very powerful feature – because it works in both directions. You can post to Facebook and see the comments your Facebook friends make, and you can see your Facebook friends’ own threads and comments from Friendica, too. 
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+It’s almost as if your Facebook contacts had become Friendica users themselves. And you don’t even have to configure contacts separately – your entire Facebook friend list imported, and updated if new friends are added.
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+**Activating the Facebook connector for your user account**
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+Assuming that your admin has installed the Facebook connector, it can be enabled by going to _Settings > Connector Settings > Facebook Connector Settings_. When you use it for the first time, you will be taken to Facebook for confirmation. 
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+**Configuring the Facebook connector (Facebook side)**
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+Enter your Facebook user name and password and let the application (the connector) do everything the options suggest.
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+While on the Facebook side of things, also figure out who should be able to see posts from Friendica to Facebook – a fairly sound suggestion would be your Facebook friends. This setting only takes effect when your Friendica post is public – not when you post to a private group you have defined in Friendica.
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+So assuming you accept the above suggestion, a public post would now also go to all your friends on Facebook.
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+But a Friendica post to a group that includes just two Facebook friends would only be visible to those two friends on Facebook (and anyone else in the group on other networks).
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+
+**Configuring the Facebook connector (Friendica side)**
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+Once you have clicked okay on Facebook, you will be returned to the Friendica configuration panel for the connector.
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+There are four options here:
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+_Post to Facebook by default_ – If you select this, all your public posts will also go to Facebook – unless you choose otherwise on a per-post basis. If you don’t select it, your public posts will only go to Facebook if you tick the appropriate box in the post editor’s privacy settings on a post-by-post basis. Posts to private groups that you have defined and which include Facebook contacts will always go to those contacts, regardless of what you select here.
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+_Link all your Facebook friends and conversations on this website_ – You will most probably want to tick this one in order to see what your Facebook friends are doing from within Friendica (the connector usually doesn’t make much sense without it).
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+The next two options concern your own Facebook wall.
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+_Check On this website your Facebook profile wall conversations will only be visible to you_, if you want to see your own posts (ones you publish on Facebook itself or send there via another connector) in your Friendica stream, along with comments from your Facebook friends. You will then see that content personally, but others on Friendica won’t be able to. They will only see the posts you issue from Friendica itself. For most people, this is a sensible option to check (more about that in a moment).
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+_Do not import your Facebook profile wall conversations_ – Activating this option means that no one – not even you – will see the conversations you initiate on Facebook itself in their Friendica browsers. Most people will probably want to leave this option unchecked.
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+Activating _neither_ of those two options means that your Facebook profile wall will be merged with your profile wall on Friendica – and your privacy settings on Friendica will be used to determine who may see the conversations.
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+_This can be very annoying to your contacts in some cases!_
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+Example: If you are cross-posting a lot using other connectors, a Friendica post may go to your blog on Wordpress and from there to Facebook as well. But when it is published on Facebook that way, Friendica will treat it as a separate post – and your contacts on Friendica will probably see two identical versions of it within a short space of time (along with pix or video links). This kind of duplication will irritate some and confuse others – and entertain almost no one. ;)
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+**Removing or re-authenticating the Facebook connector**
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+To remove the Facebook connector, click the appropriate link on its settings page. There is also a link there to re-authenticate the connector with Facebook. This is necessary whenever your Facebook password is changed.
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+**Status updates**
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+Status updates from your Facebook friends will generally arrive once an hour – but you can choose a more (or less) frequent setting on a per contact basis by editing the settings for that person. 
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+Comments you make to Facebook or posts you send there usually appear there within one or two minutes. 
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+If the site admin has activated the real-time option for the Facebook connector, some things may work even faster. Specifically, anything that is visible on your own Facebook wall becomes almost instantly visible on Friendica, too: threads you start over there, comments you make, mentions/tags etc.
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+**Contact updates**
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+The Facebook connector polls Facebook once a day to discover whether you have any new friends there – or have lost any.
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+**Installing the Facebook connector on your own site (for admins only)**
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+If you run your own Friendica site, you will have to work a little harder to establish Facebook connectivity. But the steps are actually very simple.
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+
+_Coming soon…_