Status: Link Preview and Image Settings

Link Previews are how each social network displays the status, based on the Post, Page or Custom Post Type that is being shared.  For example:
WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Status: Link Preview: OpenGraph: Facebook

When defining a status message, there are six possible Link Preview settings available:

  • Use OpenGraph Settings
  • Use Feat. Image, not Linked to Post
  • Use Text to Image, not Linked to Post

Not all social networks support all options, as detailed below.

Use OpenGraph Settings Use Feat. Image, not Linked to Post Use Text to Image, not Linked to Post
Facebook Yes Yes Yes
Twitter Yes Yes Yes
LinkedIn Yes Yes Yes
Pinterest No Yes Yes
Instagram No Yes Yes
WordPress to SocialPilot Pro ensures you cannot accidentally choose a Featured Image option that does not apply for a particular social network.
Using WooCommerce?  WordPress to SocialPilot Pro uses the Product Image, which is the same as the Featured Image

Use OpenGraph Settings

Requires {url} tag in status text: Yes

Use Cases:

  • You have an SEO or Open Graph Plugin
  • You want to use the Featured Image as defined by an SEO or Open Graph Plugin

When using the {url} tag on the statuses that you have defined with this setting, SocialPilot will attempt to read the Open Graph / social metadata for the Page, Post or Custom Post Type that’s being shared, to find an image to include when publishing to social networks.

This Open Graph / social metadata is not controlled or produced by WordPress to SocialPilot Pro.  Therefore, to ensure that your site contains the necessary open graph / social metadata output, you’ll need to use either a free SEO Plugin or Open Graph plugin:

It’s good practice to have one of the above plugins installed and activated on your WordPress installation, as it will also ensure URLs that are directly shared on social networks by visitors include an image.

If your SEO or Open Graph plugin is not selecting the correct image, when a Post is sent to SocialPilot, consider using the Use Feat. Image, Linked to Post option below for greater control.
Occasionally, social networks may take up to one minute from the status being posted to parsing the Open Graph data and showing the image.  If your status doesn’t display with an image, consider checking back a minute or so later.
Facebook: For the {url} to be removed from the status, you’ll need to verify your site’s domain name and Page.  See https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/domain-verification

Depending on your SEO Plugin or Open Graph plugin, here’s how statuses will look when using this setting, along with the status text = {title} {url}

Facebook

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Open Graph: Facebook

Twitter

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Open Graph: Twitter

LinkedIn

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Open Graph: LinkedIn

Use Feat. Image, not Linked to Post

Facebook: You’ll need to verify your site’s domain name and Page.  See https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/domain-verification

Requires {url} tag in status text: No

Use Cases:

  • You do not have an SEO or Open Graph Plugin
  • You want to explicitly define the precise image to be used with the status update on your social media profiles
  • You want to specify more than one image for a status update for Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram (Pinterest and LinkedIn do not support multiple images)
  • You do not want the Image to link to the Post (therefore, clicking the image would simply display its full size version within that social network)

With this setting chosen, WordPress to SocialPilot Pro again use the following options, in order:

  1. WP to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image and Additional Images.
    1. If defined, the first image will be used as the image on the status update.  This overrides the Post’s Featured Image, even if it is also supplied.
    2. If additional images are defined, they will also be included on the status update.  Please note the limits outlined at the start of this Documentation regarding the maximum number of images in total that can be assigned to a status, depending on the social network.
      WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured and Additional Images: New UI
    3. To remove an image, click the cross icon next to the image
    4. To change the order of images, drag and drop them within the above grid
    5. To add or change images, click the Select Images button, and then click the applicable image(s) in the Media Library modal selector to select or deselect them:
      WordPress to Hootsuite Pro: Featured and Additional Images: Media Library Modal
  2. Featured Image.  If your Post, Page or Custom Post Type supports Featured Images, this image will be used as the image on the status update.
    WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image
    Depending on your WordPress site, not all Posts, Pages or Custom Post Types register a Featured Image option.  In this case, use the WP to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image option above and ensure that your status settings do not use Use OpenGraph Settings.

You do not need to specify the {url} tag in your status text, unless you want to include a link within your status text.  Doing this will not link the Featured Image to the Post’s URL.

Here’s how statuses will look when using this setting, along with the status text = {title} 

Facebook

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image, No Link: Facebook

Twitter

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image, No Link: Twitter

LinkedIn

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image, No Link: LinkedIn

Pinterest

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image, No Link: Pinterest

Instagram

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image, No Link: Instagram

Here’s how statuses will look when using this setting, along with multiple images and the status text = {title} 

Facebook

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image, not Linked to Post: Multiple Images on Facebook

Twitter

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image, not Linked to Post: Multiple Images on Twitter

Instagram

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image, not Linked to Post: Instagram Multiple Images WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Featured Image, not Linked to Post: Instagram Multiple Images

Use Text to Image, not Linked to Post

Facebook: You’ll need to verify your site’s domain name and Page.  See https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/domain-verification

Requires {url} tag in status text: No

Use Cases:

  • You do not have an SEO or Open Graph Plugin
  • You do not have a Featured Image specified on the Post
  • You want to supply an image to be used with the status update on your social media profiles, based on the text you supply.
  • You do not want the generated Text to Image to link to the Post (therefore, clicking the image would simply display its full size version within that social network)

With this setting chosen, WordPress to SocialPilot Pro will use the Text to Image Status Text defined in the status, generating an image from it, and using that image with the status update.

Styling of the generated image (text font, size, color, background) is defined in the global Text to Image Settings.

You do not need to specify the {url} tag in your status text, unless you want to include a link within your status text.  Doing this will not link the Featured Image to the Post’s URL.

Here’s how statuses will look when using this setting, along with:

  • Status Text = {title} 
  • Text to Image = Text to Image Example: {title}

Facebook

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Status Image: Text to Image, Not Linked to Post: Facebook

Twitter

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Status Image: Text to Image, Not Linked to Post: Twitter

LinkedIn

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Status Image: Text to Image, Not Linked to Post: LinkedIn

Pinterest

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Status Image: Text to Image, Not Linked to Post: Pinterest

Instagram

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro: Status Image: Text to Image, Not Linked to Post: Instagram

webp Image Support

Automatic conversion of webp to JPEG is supported in WordPress to SocialPilot Pro 1.8.5, releasing Thursday September 2nd 2021 23:59 UTC.

SocialPilot currently does not support webp images with a status when a status’ image setting is set to:

  • Use Featured Image, not Linked to Post

WordPress to SocialPilot Pro will therefore attempt to automatically perform the following when a status is being added to SocialPilotb:

  • Copy webp image(s) defined as your Featured / Additional Images
  • Convert the copied image(s) to JPEG
  • Store the converted JPEG image(s) in the Media Library.

As a result, you may see ‘duplicate’ image(s) in your Media Library.  These are temporary, and WordPress to SocialPilot Pro will automatically delete these, usually within 24 hours.