I’m sure it’s not news to any of you that social networking has
become one of the most popular trends in business over the last few years.
Facebook and Twitter are at the head of this movement. Businesses use these to
keep their fans updated with the latest news and products from their company.
Anyways, these two sites have developed tools for web designers
that make it easy for a web site’s visitors to view the Facebook and Twitter
updates. These are extremely easy to use and implement. Here is where you can
find them and how to customize them.
Facebook Social Plugin
developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/
When you open the Social Plugin page of the Facebook Developer
Tools, you will see many different options for plugins you can add to your
site. They are extremely easy to install as well. There are not only useful for
your own personal portfolio sites but look great when showing clients how you
can get them in touch with their fans.
Here are a few of my favorite plugins that you and your client
will find most useful. Be sure to check out the others I didn’t list here as
well.
- Like Button: A simple buttons gives users the ability to like your page and displays how many other people like it.
- Like Box: This great plugin now only gives the viewers an easy way for them to “Like” your site’s Facebook page, but also shows a few of your latest posts and other people who like your page.
- Comments: Adding a comment box easily gives Facebook users a way to talk about a specific page or article on your website.
- Facepile: A lot of sites use this simple plugin because it shows off the different photos of people who have liked your website. It’s a simple but attractive way to show off your fan-base.
Once you enter your desired settings into the customization
options, click “Get Code.” It will show you two separate boxes. The first few
lines of code will be places just after your opening <body> tag and the
second box of code will go where you want the plugin to be shown on the site.
You can just as easily make a new style-id for the div classes provided to
customize them even more.
Twitter Feed Widget
Another easy to customize tool lets you show off your latest
tweets and give viewers an easy way to check out your Twitter page and follow
you. Colors and options are easy to customize to fit the color scheme of your
site and there isn’t an over abundance of options so you won’t be scared to
experiment.
Simply customize your settings then check out how it looks using
the “Test Settings” button. When you’re ready to implement it onto your site
click “Finish & Grab Code.” All you need to do from here is copy the box of
code and paste it where you want it on your website.
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