Facebook & Twitter Widgets

Facebook and Twitter can be helpful tools to keep your customers in touch with what is happening on your farm. You can directly link your website users to your Facebook or Twitter accounts by creating widgets on your website. Read this article to learn more about Facebook and Twitter and to learn how to add Facebook badges and Twitter buttons.

Facebook

Facebook is a social networking website. Anyone over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail address can become a Facebook user. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, and school or college. Businesses can create Facebook pages (Facebook for Business) that users can "follow" which means that they will receive the information that the business posts directly onto their personal Facebook page. Read more about Facebook's history here.

Twitter

Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows you answer the question, "What are you doing?" by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called "tweets", to your friends, or "followers." It's this 'short format' of communication that appeals to users who are suffering from lengthy email fatigue. Twitter can also be used by businesses to keep their customers informed of happenings in real-time (Twitter for buinesses)Read more about Facebook's history here.

Placing a Facebook Badge on Your Site

1. Sign in to your Facebook account and get the HTML code for your badge by visiting: http://www.facebook.com/badges/. You'll have to select the type of badge you'd like to display. For this example, let's click on 'Profile Badge'. See below:

   
     *Figure 1. Facebook Badge Page

   Click on the Other button for the type of website you're placing the badge on. Facebook will then provide you with some HTML code in a box below the button. See below:

   
     Figure 2. Code for Facebook Badge

   Copy and paste this code and/or leave this browser window open to access the code later on.

2. Login to your Control Panel and navigate to: Display > Widgets > Create Custom Widget

3. Click on the HTML icon in the text editor toolbar and paste or type the code from Facebook into the HTML box that appears. Click on the Update button when you are finished.

4. Complete the creation of your widget by adding a title, assigning a weight, and fill out the 'narrow to' field if you do not want this widget on every page of your site. Click Submit Changes to save your new widget.

5. Go to the public view of your website and see how your new widget looks and test it to see if it works.

Placing a Twitter Button on Your Site

1. Sign in to your Twitter account and get the HTML code for your button by visiting: https://twitter.com/about/resources/buttons. You'll have to select the type of button you'd like to display. For this example, let's click on "Follow". Make adjustments to your button and then copy and paste the HTML code and/or leave this browser window open to access the code later on.

2. Login to your Control Panel and navigate to: Display > Widgets > Create Custom Widget

3. Click on the HTML icon in the text editor toolbar and paste or type the code from Twitter into the HTML box that appears. Click on the Update button when you are finished.

4. Complete the creation of your widget by adding a title, assigning a weight, and fill out the 'narrow to' field if you do not want this widget on every page of your site. Click Submit Changes to save your new widget.

5. Go to the public view of your website and see how your new widget looks and test it to see if it works.

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