Changes in Outfy tool’s usage for channel Facebook – The why, what, how and what next to expect?

Beginning January 1st weekend, you would have noticed that you were unable to post your promotions on Facebook through Outfy. We were also saddened by this. We have been getting numerous requests from our esteemed users in the last one month, telling us that they are missing posting on Facebook. We are also equally concerned, and so we are in regular discussion with Facebook team to work this out in the best interests of all, in line with all applicable policy guidelines.

We are pleased to let you know here that you may soon start using Facebook again for posting your products. Change is the name of the game, and you would just need to make a few changes in the way you can post your promotions on Facebook, using Outfy.

Why this change?

We had shared this information with you about the implementation of Policy 2.3 by Facebook. It has been enforced by Facebook to ensure that only genuine and authentic content is posted on the platform, and it allows only the actual user to fill all data and post same on Facebook. No pre-filled data can be entered through third party apps. This is Facebook’s endeavor to curtail spam onFacebook, and ensure that Facebook remains an effective social media platform, for all genuine users.

Facebook has an awesome video covering this in a bit more depth.

In simple words – https://developers.facebook.com/policy #2.3 clearly directs all Apps –

Don’t prefill captions, comments, messages, or the user message parameter of posts with content a person or business didn’t create, even if the person can edit or remove the content before sharing. You may use our Share Dialogs to prefill a single hashtag in a post, but don’t prefill any content a person or business didn’t create via the API.

What is Outfy’s stand on this and how does it effect Outfy users?

Outfy always works within the set guidelines, so our technology team has also been working on this, to introduce some small changes in the way you would now be able to make use of Outfy to promote your products on Facebook.

The implication of this “changed” way would be:

  • You would be able to start posting “as an image” on Facebook, like you were doing before the implementation of this policy
    • But, no pre-filled data would be available for your posts meant for Facebook
    • You would need to manually input the product title / product description / product tags for all posts meant for Facebook
    • You would be able to easily choose the tags from the tag cloud, but they won’t be prefilled in the posts
    • This would be applicable for all autopilot posts – both for Facebook business page as well as for Facebook personal accounts
  • You could continue to post “as a link” on Facebook
    • You could post using the product URL
    • You would need to manually enter/edit the product title, and any other additional information you wish to convey

What next to expect?

This is just a head’s up to you all, so that we can take the pain out of your eager wait. We are waiting for the final green signal from Facebook, after which the actual posts would start. We will inform you promptly, as soon this is flagged off by Facebook team.

This will be a small change and may require a little more time investment from your end. But, this little extra time investment would greatly work towards weeding out the spammers, and keeping Facebook as the most effective social media platform. Outfy believes in this, and supports this policy of Facebook.

Any questions / clarifications required, you are most welcome like always to write to us – hello@outfy.com.

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