Here is the code you need to share a link to Facebook using PHP. With small changes you can use this code to post just a message (without link), or to upload a photo in a Facebook album.
Also, with small changes you can use this code to post either to your Facebook Profile or your Fan Pages or Business Pages.
Detailed instructions are provided below in this post.
The following PHP script can be invoked from command line (or Cron) or from your browser.
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<?php// require Facebook PHP SDK// see: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/php/gettingstarted/require_once("/YOUR_PATH_TO/facebook_php_sdk/facebook.php");// initialize Facebook class using your own Facebook App credentials// see: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/php/gettingstarted/#install$config = array();$config['appId'] = 'YOUR_APP_ID';$config['secret'] = 'YOUR_APP_SECRET';$config['fileUpload'] = false; // optional$fb = new Facebook($config);// define your POST parameters (replace with your own values)$params = array( "access_token" => "YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN", // see: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-login/access-tokens/ "message" => "Here is a blog post about auto posting on Facebook using PHP #php #facebook", "link" => "http://www.pontikis.net/blog/auto_post_on_facebook_with_php", "picture" => "http://i.imgur.com/lHkOsiH.png", "name" => "How to Auto Post on Facebook with PHP", "caption" => "www.pontikis.net", "description" => "Automatically post on Facebook with PHP using Facebook PHP SDK. How to create a Facebook app. Obtain and extend Facebook access tokens. Cron automation.");// post to Facebook// see: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/php/facebook-api/try { $ret = $fb->api('/YOUR_FACEBOOK_ID/feed', 'POST', $params); echo 'Successfully posted to Facebook';} catch(Exception $e) { echo $e->getMessage();}?> |
From the above code, it is obvious that
All these steps are described below. I use a demo app (Demo_auto_post_php) without hiding "sensitive" information like app secret, access tokens etc. The reason is to make the whole process more understandable. Of course, all these "sensitive" data is not valid. This app (Demo_auto_post_php) created just for demo purposes and it has been deleted.
Download Facebook PHP SDK (v.3.2.2 at the time of writing this article) from Github at You may use any library available (in PHP section) of https://github.com/facebook/facebook-php-sdk.
Actually, you need three files (under folder src)
Get and put them in the same directory (for example facebook_php_sdk ).
apt-get install php5-curl )Step 1 - Go to https://developers.facebook.com/apps and sign in with your account. Then press the button "+Create new app". New app name is Demo_auto_post
Step 2 - Your new Facebook app is just created
Your Facebook app credentials are now available: App ID and App Secret.
Step 3 - Disable Sandbox mode and set Canvas URL. Then press "Save changes"
Disable Sandbox mode, so your app will become live (visible to all users).
Click on "App on Facebook" tab and set Canvas URL. I set Canvas URL to "http://localhost/fb-tokens" (andSecure Canvas URL to "https://localhost/fb-tokens"). This is the (local) URL where Facebook will use to redirect some results you need. Of course, you can use any URL you prefer. Please, see below (How to Get Facebook Access Token STEP 1 - create the redirect_uri page) for details.
Please, note, that, you need a Personal Facebook account in order to create a Facebook app. Then, you can obtain Access Tokens for your Fan or Business Pages. In case you have only a Business Page (without a Personal Facebook profile), you cannot automate post procedure using a Facebook app. In this case you have to create a Personal Profile and then assign you as Admin to Business Page.
First, create a simple php script in your local web server, which has the Canvas URL (redirect_uri) you set creating your Facebook App in STEP 3. I set this URL to http://localhost/fb-tokens/. My local web serverDocumentRoot is /srv/http, so:
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mkdir /srv/http/fb-tokensnano /srv/http/fb-tokens/index.php |
Put the following code.
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<?phpprint_r($_GET);?> |
This code will just print the php $_GET array, in other words what Facebook will pass to you from query string.
On your browser, give the following url, where client_id is App ID and redirect_uri is the URL defined as Canvas URL
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https://www.facebook.com/dialog/oauth?client_id=167252680143474&redirect_uri=http://localhost/fb-tokens/&scope=manage_pages,publish_stream |
The part &scope=manage_pages,publish_stream of this URL defines thw permissions you will assign to your app.
Read about Facebook permissions:
The result will be
authorize your app to access your profile
click OK
authorize your app to post to your friends on your behalf
click OK
authorize your app to manage your Pages
Get the code value
You will get somenthing like this
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Array([code] =>AQCnhrD8RSxJRmGJdYCfFD33hGPv84xa-xqXKD1-3i3qmsPjqHODEn1cROQkYv6LSKhKlPBxkPHD9gUs-9W0GSwDJVvarX70QiLAYmcLsGhN2u0Ib1OF512TvMljg8WLjx0FaAFCB1DHiTqYE-6ZNtWqtZpe4aIecOw949QNcWbZOf2BiCH_yECCNfamKdatV5Nv1Oa1IvIi_8_zVGc_cQqujVC_O2Apkzyj7M1cypoucGc02NzpAQv3yPqCnIuz5TWglcvhr2YNL7HAClLW0ydWgmq7FyfXOfrbFLoRjd-GRTevmTCffA2iV_A1i-itStY) |
After getting the code value, give the following url, where client_id is App ID and redirect_uri is the URL defined as Canvas URL, client_secret is App Secret and code is the code got.
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https://graph.facebook.com/oauth/access_token?client_id=167252680143474&redirect_uri=http://localhost/fb-tokens/&client_secret=29d8d368420dc1e81198fce224ac71c9&code=AQCnhrD8RSxJRmGJdYCfFD33hGPv84xa-xqXKD1-3i3qmsPjqHODEn1cROQkYv6LSKhKlPBxkPHD9gUs-9W0GSwDJVvarX70QiLAYmcLsGhN2u0Ib1OF512TvMljg8WLjx0FaAFCB1DHiTqYE-6ZNtWqtZpe4aIecOw949QNcWbZOf2BiCH_yECCNfamKdatV5Nv1Oa1IvIi_8_zVGc_cQqujVC_O2Apkzyj7M1cypoucGc02NzpAQv3yPqCnIuz5TWglcvhr2YNL7HAClLW0ydWgmq7FyfXOfrbFLoRjd-GRTevmTCffA2iV_A1i-itStY |
You will get the Access Token (!)
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access_token=CAACYHYyWcnIBAJ1LwRLTERQNXJ4qRCqoTf2pgs1V2AiZCOreWAH0bY2UKaoyD3elfcEZAZAs6fZAEYPAZC5OlU6ZCg8Org32D13LiencxZA0PsNzkQPPuZCiZAukgMnqLXM0F2ZBlYZAnZB08qVwOo6DgiCJSlkoZCb9VVs0ARsleZBcduzTQKZBvIcvjLZBXXr5ye8R4FcZD&expires=5183831 |
If you have any Facebook Pages (except your Personal Profile), you can get Access Tokens for them, using the following URL, where access_token is the Access Token you just got for your Personal Profile
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https://graph.facebook.com/me/accounts?access_token=CAACYHYyWcnIBAJ1LwRLTERQNXJ4qRCqoTf2pgs1V2AiZCOreWAH0bY2UKaoyD3elfcEZAZAs6fZAEYPAZC5OlU6ZCg8Org32D13LiencxZA0PsNzkQPPuZCiZAukgMnqLXM0F2ZBlYZAnZB08qVwOo6DgiCJSlkoZCb9VVs0ARsleZBcduzTQKZBvIcvjLZBXXr5ye8R4FcZD |
The result will be the following JSON string
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{ "data": [ { "category": "Website", "name": "pontikis.net", "access_token": "CAACYHYyWcnIBAMK1y2tqiRKx8bBXGFFzjdUamOlMZCBJrTSL8ic1z5sZBarBi3DbTh9mMUz3aiZCAQRNHvOmcMxLZC53FNtkrVCq8rZCLsyjbQVZAt8o7S6Rd1UT0LK7AkgyZAlu11MC9rWND8eZBiKjjiYjwmBMLWko7k6GGPZCREehKRNFCsyM1Ll7sFb1hXycZD", "perms": [ "ADMINISTER", "EDIT_PROFILE", "CREATE_CONTENT", "MODERATE_CONTENT", "CREATE_ADS", "BASIC_ADMIN" ], "id": "466400200079875" } ], "paging": { "next": "https://graph.facebook.com/100005247665389/accounts?access_token=CAACYHYyWcnIBAJ1LwRLTERQNXJ4qRCqoTf2pgs1V2AiZCOreWAH0bY2UKaoyD3elfcEZAZAs6fZAEYPAZC5OlU6ZCg8Org32D13LiencxZA0PsNzkQPPuZCiZAukgMnqLXM0F2ZBlYZAnZB08qVwOo6DgiCJSlkoZCb9VVs0ARsleZBcduzTQKZBvIcvjLZBXXr5ye8R4FcZD&limit=5000&offset=5000&__after_id=491387474252073" }} |
Except of getting Access Token for your Fan Pages, the above step is useful to get your Fan Pages Facebook id. You will need it, when you try to post to your Fan Pages. However, this procedure is described independently (see below: How to Find your Facebook id)
Facebook Access Tokens will expire in about an hour. Access Token obtained with the above procedure are long-lived Access Tokens and will expire after two months (60 days).
offline_access permission, used to prevent tokens expiration, was depreceted since 2012. Read more at https://developers.facebook.com/roadmap/offline-access-removal/.
Since offline access is deprecated you cannot create an access token which doesn’t expire. The best you can get is a long-lived Access Token (expires in 60 days).
So, it is very important to know your Access Token expiration time. Just use the URL
https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/access_token
For example, to check (debug) the Access Token obtained for this demo
Notice that this Access Token will expire after 60 days.
I remind you that this app (Demo_auto_post_php) has been deleted, so the above URL will not give you the same results. The above screenshot is taken before app deletion.
Facebook long-lived Access Tokens will expire after about two months (60 days). In order your app to remain functioning, you (unfortunately) have to repeat "How to Get Facebook Access Token - STEP 2".
The Facebook id of a Personal Profile of Fan Page or Business Page is public information, available using Facebook Graph API. Just use a URL like: