Did you know that it is possible to have Twitter automatically update your Facebook page? It’s actually very simple. In fact, I haven’t manually updated my Facebook status in months.
To get this process working, follow these six simple steps. It shouldn’t take you more than five minutes, max. These instructions assume that you already have both a Facebook account and a Twitter account.
- Make sure you are logged into Facebook. Now go to the Facebook’s Twitter application page. Now click on the Go to Application button. It looks like this:
- The application will now ask you to confirm that Twitter can access your Facebook information. Click on the Allow button.
- Now log into your Twitter account by entering your Twitter username and password. The screen looks similar to this:
Click on the Login button.
- You can now actually use Twitter from within Facebook. The screen looks like this:
Personally, I never use this. I want the reverse of this. I want to update my Facebook status from Twitter. Therefore, click on the Allow Twitter to Update Your Facebook Status button in the upper-right of the screen.
- You should get a confirmation screen that looks similar to this:
Now confirm that you are willing to let Twitter update your Facebook status by clicking the Allow Status Updates button.
- After you click this button, you will go to the Twitter application. Don’t Twitter anything from here. Instead, go to your Facebook Home page, by clicking the Home link on the Facebook menu.
Now you can test the connection by going to your favorite Twitter application or the Twitter web page and entering a tweet. Wait a minute or two and go back to your Facebook home page and refreshing it. Your most recent tweet should be displayed as your Facebook status. This is how my status looked:
That’s all there is to it. Now every time you Twitter something, your Facebook status will be automatically updated.
Update: If you don’t want to send every one of your tweets to Facebook, then check out Selective Twitter Status. It allows you to designate the tweets you want to appear on Facebook by end a tweet with the #fb “hashtag” in your post. Only those tweets with the hash tag at the end will be posted on Facebook.
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Neat trick! Just set it up and it works – I wasn't using facebook much because didn't need another inbox / page to check, but this will keep people updated who do try to follow me on facebook. Thanks!
You can also use Ping.FM (http://ping.fm/) to update both networks at once as well as a bunch of other networks. Might be another option if you wanted to keep both in synch, but is especially cool if you have three or more social sites to keep up with.
@jdomangue just suggested I check out Selective Twitter. It lets you decide which Tweets go to Facebook, using a simple hash tag: #fb. If you won't want to send all of your updates to Facebook, this may be the solution. I personally haven't tried it.
I have used Selective Twitter for several weeks. Although I'm not a prolific user of either Facebook or Twitter, I do like being able to choose which posts show up on Facebook. It works seamlessly (although you do have to remember the hash tag).
I have been using Selective Twitter for a while now. I really like it. @Andyy has even added a new feature: a follow link under the facebook status messages that come in from Twitter. Very nice!
I used Ping.FM for a while – had a daisy chain of Ping to BrightKite to Twitter to FB, but switching to Ping to do this was tiresome and though I like BrightKite, I find it's not worth all of the effort either. Michael's method is the simplest method I've found to maintain the two platforms I use most, then I use Digsby to monitor Twitter and LinkedIN. Be warned that your FB friends may not appreciate all of the links posted on twitter or understand the @username references (the FB Twitter App does not send @replies to your FB status, but it does send posts that contain @usernames in the middle of the message). I've gotten a few complaints or at least questioning comments – I usually try to reply positively with a small intro to Twitter.
That's where out Selective Twitter might be worth checking out. (See my comment above.)
Since I use Facebook primarily I use Twitterfeed to update my Twitter status with my Facebook status. It's a totally different process from the one you described but achieves the same ends, only in reverse.
Great article.
I haven't tried Ping, because I really only update Twitter and Facebook. However, I should probably explore it.
Plaxo also has a similar application to pull in status updates from Twitter. Now if LinkedIn would just join the party so we could post one update and have it hit all the popular social network sites!
hellotxt.com let's you do just that: update Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Jaiku, MySpace etc. Now if only XING would get on board…
What I am looking for is a tool that let's you sync your company Twitter with the new staus bar on the Facebook company pages.
Mike, Like Joel I used first the FB method you explained then, Digsby, and then Friend Feed to post to FB. I got the same reaction from friends who do not twitter. I think I have finally settled on possibly using posterous as a tool to post things that seem relevant to both crowds. Time will tell. FB is still a beast that has not settled well in my house. I use it on my iTouch but avoid its web interface. Thanks for posting the steps.
I also use the Ping.fm platform to update the networks I use. It can update all networks at once, or selected networks, including my blog. I still have some kinks to work out with it. I tend to use Ping for articles I want to share with business networks (LinkedIn and Plaxo), Twitter to update Twitter and Facebook, and Facebook for social updates. Seems a little cumbersome (it can be), but works for me right now. I just have multiple tabs in IE open for each service.
Oh yeah. I use twitter to update my FaceBook status. It's great. They are both awesome ways to stay in touch with friends and family along with network.
Thanks for the post.
I love the new look of your blog! Wow! Nice! And I just learned how to do the twitter/facebook thing this week and I love it!
Just to add my two cents…I use Twitter to update my Facebook status and have FriendFeed to send blog posts and other stuff to Twitter. If I post something or change my status directly on Facebook, though, I don't have it update to Twitter neither via the FB app nor FriendFeed. I use Twitter mosly for business. I like my friends on FB to see my business stuff, but I don't think I want my business associates on Twitter to see some of the goofy stuff I post on Facebook. :)
Took me a second to find the "Twitter application" since it wasn't automatically included as an option on my Facebook applications. But once I found it, the process was simple! Thanks for the post, Mike.
With the help of a Twitter friend I was able to find the app. Now that I'm using it, I wonder if my updates are so frequent that they seem like spam to my Facebook friends. Any suggestions?
I haven't had any complaints, but others have. You can try Selective Twitter, which will post to Facebook only the tweets you specify. I haven't tried it myself, but others here have (see comments above).
I haven't had any complaints, but others have. You can try Selective Twitter, which will post to Facebook only the tweets you specify. I haven't tried it myself, but others here have (see comments above).
I'd suggest being selective about which Twitter comments go to FB. If you tweet a lot, you'll annoy your FB pals with frequent updates and you'll find yourself losing a lot of FB friends. I used the app for about 3 hours, then quickly disabled it after I received a huge number of complaints from friends. Glad to know there's a way to pick and choose which tweets go through.
Michael,
Tell me what you think about this, http://rhettsmith.com/2009/02/16/why-i-disconnect...
which is my reasons why I pulled the Twitter to Facebook plug about a week ago after much thought.
rhett smith
Just last night someone asked me what in the world the @ sign meant on Facebook. I redirected them to your blog. Perfect timing.
Rhett,
You make some valid points. I almost deactivated Facebook altogether, until I realized that 25% of my new blog traffic comes from there. Have you tried Selective Twitter? It picks up the #fb hash tag and selectively posts those to Facebook.
Thanks,
Mike
I found this a couple days ago. It has made my life soooo much easier. I am going to tweet this article. Thanks!
I'll try the selective Twitter & #fb tag. Who knows I might start to really tweet again.
Thanks Michael! This is great.
Didn't know about selective twitter. Thanks for the tip
I've been using a Facebook App called Tweeter http://apps.facebook.com/tweeter/ that has more configuration settings to let you selectively allow (or disallow) tweets to be posted based on "regex" algorithm. This is nice when you want more automated control, and you don't have to use #fb tagging to post from twitter to FB status update.
Hi there. I also use application http://www.twitterfeed.com/ Its a program that allows you to post not only your twitter updates to your facebook, but you can update your blogs as well. If you update a blog it will post on your twitter and also on your facebook. You can still update at twitter on your status and it will post on facebook just the same. Great application you are talking about though. I think its a great way to link the networks together.
Have a great day.
I am struggling to figure out how to sync the company Twitter feed with the status on the company's Facebook page. Can that be done? It seems to want to pull my personal Twitter feed rather than the company feed…
I am not sure, but it seems theoretically possible. If you enter the company information into the Facebook app, it should work. However, I have not tried this. Thanks.
How do you get the twitter feed to sync into our company's facebook page – it seems to just keep going into my personal facebook profile
I have the same problem. I was using the Twitter app on my personal profile. I completely uninstalled it and reinstalled on our company page, entered the company Twitter account info but it's only updating my profile and not the company status page. If anyone figures this out – update the rest of us, please!
not to be picky or anything, but tweet is also used as a verb and not just a noun, i.e. "Don't tweet anything", "Go to the application and tweet."
Hi Michael,
This is great. I was halfway there and didn't realize I hadn't completed the process until this post.
Thank you,
Angie
Awesome and yes almost gave up on twitter, but now going to utilize it more, since I am trying to get my "Vision" off the ground, could use all the advice and input I can get from all of you brilliant guys I am following and luckily most are following me as well!! Thanks Michael.
I am in a similar bind. Also, as a best practice I would suggest creating your business' Facebook Page with a separate account (not your own personal one). The creator of the page can never be removed – even if you leave the company.
i keep getting a page for twitter to reset my password – and i know my password is correct – so i can't get past the blue rectangle …any hints on this?
I really am a twitterholic and overwhelm my FB status page when every tweet shows up. So I particularly like the facebook app "selective twitter" so all I have to do is #fb from any twitter client when I want the particular tweet included in FB.
Sorry this was already discussed. Need to read replies before replying myself :)
You can also use GlueNow.com to update your content over multiple social sites.
love this
I use Seesmic Desktop to do this – makes it easy to deal with multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts, and you can change on the fly.
Thank you, this was exactly what I needed! I have one friend who uses the #fb tag to update facebook from twitter, and I was running into more and more times that I wished my twitter didn’t always update my facebook, so thank you very much for the explanation and the link. Two thumbs up!
How to update facebook from twitter…
Thank you!!! The step by step instructions help a lot.
It's broken now. Can't install this app if you're a new user.
i use http://www.isstarting.com to update my twitter AND facebook status with one click. I also see if i got new mail on facebook or twitter.
works very easy: first connect with facebook, then connect with twitter and you are ready to go
Does this apply to fan pages for my companies? Every time I try to sync twitter and facebook to a company page it tries to update my personal status rather than the fan page. Does anyone have any advice on administrating and linking fan pages?
I use TweetDeck, which allows me to simultaneously update Twitter, my Facebook profile, and my Facebook fan page. It also updates my LinkedIn and MySpace status. It’s worth checking out. Thanks.
Interesting. I have been trying to use tweetdeck and can't seem to figure it out. I'll go back and spend more time on it now that I know it works for you. Thank you for the advice.
The "Allow Twitter to Update Your Facebook Status "button in the upper-right of the screen does not list all of my pages and is not updating associated pages that I administer. I can only seem to get twitter to update my own personal FB page. (I manage 3 other govt FB pages – and they don't seem to work.)
Yay! It worked! Thanks! Now I can update both at the same time. Very happy!
Will it also post your @replys?
Cool article, it's great to be able to update them both at the same time, useful if you are a business and use both Twitter and Facebook, saves a little bit of time.