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Why Facebook's API for Hashtag Search doesn't work right now and how it will be discontinued on April 30th after all.
Lately, there have been lots of discussions – and requests from our users – regarding hashtags on Facebook and if/how we support them on Walls.io.
While hashtags generally work great on Instagram and Twitter, Facebook still seems to have trouble supporting this iconic feature of the social web.
In this presentation we’ld like to give a detailed explanation on why Walls.io’s support for Facebook hashtag search was problematic to begin with and is discontinued since April 2015.
FACEBOOK: PRIVATE BY DEFAULT
Let’s address the basics first.
Other than on Twitter and Instagram most of Facebook’s users don’t share content publicly by default, but restrict visibility of their posts, photos etc. to their “Friends” / “Friends-of-friends” etc.
Obviously, such content can’t show up in a public hashtag search powered by the official Facebook API, and therefore won’t show up on a social hub like Walls.io either – and rightly so, since that’s the whole reason behind privacy settings in the first place.
FACEBOOK SEARCH API: IT’S COMPLICATED.
Next, let’s get technical – watch out, this might get dirty! 😉 Until April 2015, Facebook’s Search API has provided access to a variety of public content, searchable by keyword, according to Facebook’s documentation:
FACEBOOK SEARCH API: IT’S COMPLICATED.
Two things are worth pointing out here:
1) Facebook’s documentation specifically lists which objects are covered by the Search API:
posts, users, pages, events, groups, places
Missing anything? Exactly. Back in 2015, photos and videos were not covered by the search API – major bummer.
2) The documentation is unclear on whether the “q”-parameter even supports searching for hashtags (Hint: it did, before April 2015)
FACEBOOK SEARCH API: IT’S COMPLICATED.
When we started Walls.io in 2014 the search API on Facebook worked pretty well for us. With a few exceptions, public posts (except photos, of course!) queried by hashtag reliably found their way to our social media walls. Unfortunately, that isn’t true anymore since April 2015.
GOODBYE, FACEBOOK SEARCH API
With the mandatory switch to the Graph API V2 on April 30th 2015 Facebook has deprecated the Search API for posts completely. That means that since then Walls.io and other 3rd party tools won’t be able to provide public content from Facebook via hashtags at all.
GOODBYE, FACEBOOK SEARCH API
While there was never a public explanation or reasoning for this decision, one does wonder how Facebook is planning to fight Twitter’s dominance in real-time conversation without a public API. There’s the Media Solutions program which grants access to “Topic Feeds” (ranked, best-of streams about certain topics) – but this program is limited to a handful of select partners and doesn’t seem to provide the same technical possibilities Twitter offers to all developers on their Streaming API. And while some might hope for a new Search API being announced at the upcoming F8 Developer conference – I wouldn’t bet my money on that.
GOOD NEWS: YOU CAN STILL HAVE FACEBOOK CONTENT ON WALLS.IO
I’m glad to close this deck on a (somewhat) happy note. From the beginning Walls.io has been offering the option of specifically including a number of Facebook Pages & Events on your wall:
GOOD NEWS: YOU CAN STILL HAVE FACEBOOK CONTENT ON WALLS.IOAll public posts published on these pages & events are reliably queried and displayed on your Walls.io social hub. If you want, you can limit the posts to those containing your hashtag. We’ve been recommending this method for quite a while and are happy to report good results from our customers.
TL;DR - SummaryThe Facebook Search API with all the issues it’s been causing was shut down by Facebook on April 30th 2015. From that day on, Walls.io wasn't be able to query and display public posts via hashtags from Facebook. Instead, we recommend adding your Facebook Page or Event to your wall and advise your users to post to your page’s timeline.
TL;DR - SummaryThe Facebook Search API with all the issues it’s been causing was shut down by Facebook on April 30th 2015. From that day on, Walls.io wasn't be able to query and display public posts via hashtags from Facebook. Instead, we recommend adding your Facebook Page or Event to your wall and advise your users to post to your page’s timeline.
