the question is in the title.
I have been assigned to find out if the following is possible:
I create a group on Facebook. Selected people become members.
On a external website, I want to display all group members with their basic info - picture, name, link to public profile.
I have skimmed the Facebook Dev pages, and so far it seems to me that this is not possible simply with Social Plugins. Do I have to write some sort of App for Facebook? It came to my mind, that there should probably some permission from the group members to display them, is that right? But this probably does only work with an App, not a group. So do I have to create an App and use the Graph API to include the data on the website?
Yes, you will have to create an app. The facepile plugin will show faces, but I do not believe you can target a group with it.
It should be a reasonably straightforward app to create: you will need the user_group permission and I believe that would be it.
If the group is public, just access it by going to https://graph.facebook.com/groupid and to get the members, access https://graph.facebook.com/groupid/members
If the group is private or closed, you will need to create an app so that you can get an access token. Look at their authorization documentation on that (you will probably need to create a temporary dummy website to do the redirects to Facebook and record the token then grant you). You will probably need offline_access to run the call over and over.
With that access token, access the groups api using the url format posted above and with the access_token appended as a query string parameter.
Related
(I'm aware of this question, but it's outdated to the point of no longer working, so asking again.)
With the Facebook API it used to be that all profile pictures were considered public, and you could get one for anyone without any access tokens like this:
https://graph.facebook.com/4/picture
Now in 2020 it seems that it only works for public images like Zuck there. I have a tool for Facebook page admins that shows a list of people who liked page posts, but when I try to show user pictures in the list they all now come up blank because "This object does not exist or does not support this action".
The docs now say "This document refers to a feature that was removed after Graph API v3.2". But I could not find any more information about this deprecation. Is it now just impossible to show the picture of a user without having a user access token, or has the way to call it just changed?
The feature has not been removed, but now for users that don't have their profiles set as public, you need to provide an access token.
For instance suppose you use the Page API to list all the people who commented on a post. Previously you could show the profile pics of commenters by just linking to https://graph.facebook.com/<UID>/picture. However now you need an access token for that Page, and to then access the pic as https://graph.facebook.com/<UID>/picture?access_token=<TOKEN HERE>.
I have not tested this with apps, but I would assume that also to get the profile pics of app users based on their app-scoped UID, you'd need to include an access token there as well.
Premise:
After solving the mystery of the permanent token access, I have been able to post on my Readerly.Ink page from my app.
Problem:
My app, however, is supposed to post on multiple pages, depending on the language of the content. Hence, I today created the other pages (Readerly - Italiano, Readerly - English etc) but I cannot see them through the app!
Even if i GET /me/accounts, the original/first Readerly.Ink page is all I see. I also tried: /new-page-id?fields=access_token&access_token=your-user-access-token (as per instructions of the Pages API) - but I get an error! :-(
Question:
How do I add the new pages to the app?
Or do I need to create a different app for each page?
As far as I can tell, I created the new pages exactly as I created the first one (I'm the admin) and I added them all to my business account.
Please advise. Thanks
Or do I need to create a different app for each page?
No, you don't need to do that. An app is still able to manage multiple pages.
It used to be that you just granted an app access to manage all pages you have admin access to. But since that is obviously a bit broad and risky, Facebook has since changed things - users can specify which of their pages they actually want an app to have access to.
You get asked for that on the login dialog, when the permission is initially requested - but that list does not auto-update later to include any pages you created after that happened.
Currently, there does not seem to be any more practical procedure to get the new pages included, than removing the granted permission, and then asking for it again - upon which the user will be asked to chose which of their current set of pages they want to grant access to again.
For a quick fix, you can use Graph API Explorer - use the "get token" functionality, remove the granted manage_pages permission, and then ask for it again.
For a public facing app that has other people manage their own pages, probably such a step should be implemented within the app - remove the permission via API when necessary, then send them through the login flow again. (Might need to use the reauthenticate parameter at this point.)
I have a question about Graph Api from Facebook. We want to create tool to management accounts in facebook and groups releated with them.
Basic functionality of tool is possibility to add acounts to the system, and then add you can add multiple facebook accounts to each of them. Then, system get all posts from groups releated with facebook accounts.
I did research, and I know quite what is possible and what no, but many endpoints of API requires app review. My question is about this review - wheater app like that, when one user can add multiple facebook accouns and use data (like posts, comments) from them is allowed by facebook and will pass the review?
That depends on what exactly you mean by “accounts” …
Facebook pages? Sure, you can let your app user add as many of those as they like, for the purpose of managing them, reading feed data, etc.
User profiles? That would not really make sense, because every person is only allowed to have one personal profile on the platform to begin with. And adding other people’s profiles (by having them authorize your app, using their access tokens on behalf of someone else) is likely not going to fly in review either.
when one user can add multiple facebook accouns and use data (like posts, comments) from them is allowed by facebook
“Using data” is rather vague as well; what you can and can’t do with user data is outlined in the Platform Policy: https://developers.facebook.com/policy
In the past, I think a Facebook Page access token could be generated manually, and then used with the graph API to query posts, comments, likes, shares, etc. Now it seems you cannot query anything without developing an app that I login to and then in turn the app generates the access token. Is that true? For example, this question from 2015 claims no access token is needed for public data, but when I try their example it returns "An access token is required to request this resource."
I'm the admin of my page that ran a basic contest (giveaway). I'd like to use the graph API to fetch the names of people that liked, shared, or commented on a post. Then I want to cross reference it with those that like the page. Do I have to register and develop an app for this? Does my page have an access token available without going through the app registration and review process?
Can I access a Facebook Page with the Graph API without creating an app?
No, that is not possible. You always have to use an App for any API Access.
Then I want to cross reference it with those that like the page.
That is not possible either, not even with an App. I assume you want to make sure that participants like your Page - which is not allowed. People cannot be "incentivized" to like your Page.
Platform Policy: https://developers.facebook.com/policy/
Explanation about the specific rule against requiring people to like your Page: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/apps/examples-platform-policy-4.5
I am trying to get a list of posts in a particular group on facebook that is closed, also I am not the admin, just a member in this group. When I am trying to access the group's posts via graph explorer (I checked all the permissions) I am getting an empty list returned.
What is facebook's reason for not allowing this access? If I am a member of this group I have access to this information anyway via browser/scraping...
Your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.
What is facebook's reason for not allowing this access? If I am a member of this group I have access to this information anyway via browser
That would be only you being able to see the posts then, fine. Two parties involved - you, and the other group members; everyone aware of who will be able to read the posts, all good.
But with an app, a third party gets involved - the app developer. And they could theoretically do anything with that data, that the app reads from the API on your behalf. (Sure, the app developer might be you in this special case here - but that is not the normal use case.)
And in a closed group people might discuss topics that are a little more sensitive than the current weather; think f.e. health problems or something like that. For sure not the stuff you’d want exposed to any third parties.
And therefor, the decision whether an app should be able to read the group’s feed posts, has been placed in the hands of the group admin(s).
If you would like to access the data use api version 2.3, the only downside is that it will be deprecated.