Cause of blank space & not book's image when posting with WP url on Facebook.
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The posts of my WordPress blog site (using the site’s url) on Facebook, produce a blank square instead of the book cover image of the blog site.
After right clicking the book cover image on the WordPress site (on Firefox) and clicking into, View Image info, I discovered under the heading titled General that the book image for the WordPress site is,
https://s0.wp.com/i/blank.jpg,
rather than the book cover image url. Under the heading titled Media, the jpg photo image is,
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3418/3730172260_bcaa86b830_t.jpg.
(There is also a gif image, but I think the jpg is the one used for Facebook.) Question: Is the above url with the word “blank” the source of getting a blank square on Facebook when posting with my WordPress url? If so, will changing the url visible in General from Blank to the url with the book cover image visible in Media resolve the problem? Or does the problem emanate from some other source on WordPress or on Facebook?
(NOTE: When right clicking the book cover image on the WordPress site on Internet Explorer, View Image info, is not available. There is, View Source, which is filled with codes.)
This issue is important because clicking onto the url-produced image transports people from Facebook to my WordPress site. This does not happen if they click an uploaded photo from the photos in my computer.
Thank you for any help.
Stan
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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We have no control over the images that Twitter, Facebook or any other social networks chooses to display or when they choose to flush their image caches. We really only send them the URL of the post, and they hunt through that for the excerpt and images to include.
Please read Images in Publicize http://en.support.wordpress.com/publicize/#images-in-publicize
Featured images https://en.support.wordpress.com/featured-images/
Not every theme has featured images; only some do. Yours is a very old retired theme that does not have them.
Facebook debugger
http://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug
Facebook image thumbnail -
Thanks for your answer. But what do you think of
being the “og:image” in the General heading of “View Image info” link in the book cover image on the blog site page? Might not the above url with the word “blank” in it be responsible for the blank uploaded image square on Facebook? Or is that url with “blank” in it just a normal part of the Image info?
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Let’s ask Staff to assist you with sorting this out. I will type modlook into the sidebar tags on this thread for Staff help. How do I get a Moderator/Staff reply for my question? https://en.support.wordpress.com/getting-help-in-the-forums/#how-do-i-get-a-moderatorstaff-reply-for-my-question Subscribe to this thread so you are notified when they respond and be patient while waiting. To subscribe look in the sidebar of this thread, find the subscribe to topics link and click it.
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Hi there,
Can you please give me a link to a specific post you’re trying to share?
As the link @timethief provided explains, we don’t control the image, but we can recommend Facebook to use a certain image via the og: tag.
We first try to suggest a featured image, then any image in the post, then your site’s blavatar. If your post don’t have any of those, then there is no image to suggest.
Not only does there have to be an image, but the image has to be big enough to be pulled in by Facebook. The image file you linked to in your first post is much too small to be used, so we don’t suggest it to Facebook, using the blank image instead. For best results, I suggest an image at least 500 pixels wide.
I also suggest you set a blavatar image to use as a fallback in these cases. Again, an image 500×500 pixels is best for this purpose. You can set a Blavatar under Settings ->General in the WP-Admin dashboard.
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Hi kokkieh!
I want to thank you and timethief for your help.
The blog site url in question is:
http://www.hyperspacebook.wordpress.com
This is the link I use on my Facebook posts. Clicking the blank space still takes you to the blog site. If I just upload the photo from Pictures on my computer, it does not act as a link to the blog site. I read a post recently that Facebook did away with allowing such uploads to act as links.
As I mentioned to timethief, the book cover og:image shown in the General heading of “View Image info” (which appears when you right click the book cover image which appears in the right column when you visit the above web address on Firefox), is
So I am wondering if this factor is responsible for the blank square I get on Facebook posts rather than the book cover image. The “blank” jpg cited above appears under the General heading of “View Image info.” Under the Media heading of “View Image info” there are two urls pertaining to the book cover image: one is gif, the other jpg. I think the jpg image would be the right url for the Facebook posts. The question here is: is the appearance of
for the og:image under the General heading responsible for the blank spaces I’m getting in my Facebook posts, or not? If it is responsible, the next question would be, how can it be replaced with the image url which appears under the Media heading which represents the book cover I want visible on my Fscebook posts:
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3418/3730172260_bcaa86b830_t.jpg ?
If the og:image with “blank” in it is not the cause of the problem, the question would be, what is?
Thanks for any help you can supply. If worse comes to worse, I’ll just upload the picture from my computer, which is larger and better able to attract attention. The downside is, a Facebook viewer can’t click right to the blog site through that image. If the viewer clicks once, he or she gets another very large image of the book cover. If they click on that new image, a representation of my new blog post appears with the blog site’s web address. I like those large pictures better then the one produced by the url if everything is working well and I don’t get a blank space. Thing is, the chances are greater that less people will visit the blog site if I use that method. Anyway, when you can, let me know.
Thanks again for your help.
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The blog site url in question is:
That is not a link to a specific post. That is a link to your home page. For the home page the only image that can be used is a blavatar, and you don’t have a blavatar set. I explained above how you can add a blavatar.
As I mentioned to timethief, the book cover og:image shown in the General heading of “View Image info” (which appears when you right click the book cover image which appears in the right column when you visit the above web address on Firefox), is
So I am wondering if this factor is responsible for the blank square I get on Facebook posts rather than the book cover image.
Please read my previous reply. We set that blank image if you don’t have any image on your site that can be used. The image at https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3418/3730172260_bcaa86b830_t.jpg is too small, so it cannot be used for the Facebook preview. That image is also hotlinked to your site. It’s not in your media library, which also prevents us from using it.
You need to use a bigger image, at least 500 pixels wide, and which is in your media library for sharing specific posts or pages. For your site’s home page you need to set a blavatar, also at least 500 pixels wide.
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A question: in my Pictures library I have one book cover image that is 400×579. I set it as a blavatar. I also edited my most recent post by including a featured image. I just tried posting the ad in Facebook, and still got a blank square instead of an image. Is that because the width is 400 and not 500? Thanks.
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I just expanded the width of a copy of the picture in my pictures library to 500 pixels. I re-did the blavatar and the featured image with the new measurement. I once again tried posting the ad on Facebook with still only a blank square appearing instead of the image. What next?
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Ok. I just tried pasting the url for the blog post in question ONLY on Facebook, rather than the url for the entire blog site. A beautiful image of my book cover appeared and it linked to that blog post. Is there any way to have that image appear on Facebook if I paste the BLOG SITE’S url? I mean, I do want people to read my new post. But I also want them to have access to the entire site.
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I set it as a blavatar. I also edited my most recent post by including a featured image. I just tried posting the ad in Facebook, and still got a blank square instead of an image
Okay. I can see the Blavatar on your site now. Now we need to run your site’s URL through the Facebook debugger @timethief linked to in her first reply. This will force Facebook to update their data on your site. They cache the preview information so they don’t need to fetch it from your site every time, but you can use the debugger to force them to check your site again if they’re using the wrong image.
I’ve done that, and if you now share your home page link on Facebook you should see the correct image in the preview.
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Thank you very much for all your help. I am extremely un-tech (just a poor, miserable writer spending lots of writing time swimming through oceans of tech . . . but learning as I swim).
Anyway, if you read that post (most recent on my blog site) you will discover why suicide is so prevalent amongst our species. The novel HYPERSPACE is a case in point–albeit fictional, however realistic
Thanks again to you and to timethief.
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Please let me know if posting the url in a Facebook Comment space is supposed to produce the photo. I remember that it did a while ago, but now it produces nothing: not the blank space square and not the photo.
Thanks.
Stan
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I just tried posting your site URL in a Facebook comment and it showed the image for me as it’s supposed to. I’m afraid I don’t know enough about Facebook’s inner workings to troubleshoot why it’s not working for you, so you’ll need to contact their support for help with that instead.
If this happened when you used the link for a specific post, try running the link for that post through the Facebook debugger to clear the cache for that post:
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Thanks. I’ll give it a shot. Maybe Comments on some Facebook groups or individuals allow it, and others don’t.
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