Show off your Facebook following in Joomla

I set up a Facebook fan page a while ago. Now, I've put up a FaceBook Fan Box here at JoomlaBlogger.

This box displays fans of my Facebook page directly in Joomla. You can find the module in the right sidebar.

To put a box like this in your own site you have a few options.

When I first installed a Facebook module on my site, I had some trouble with it. I've now found another module which seems to work better.

This is an update of a post I wrote in 2009, republished because of new information.

You can get the HTML from your Facebook page and put it into a Custom HTML module. Look for the link called 'Add Fan Box to Your Site'. You assign the module to a module position and you're done.

However, this can be challenging if your WYSIWYG editor messes up your code.

As I mentioned, the first time I set up a FaceBook module here on Joomlablogger, I faced some trouble. The module messed up my Google Analytics numbers. It made it look like I had a lower bounce rate and more pageviews than I actually have. When I removed the module, numbers went back to normal.

A few days ago, I found a small and elegant module that makes the process of adding a Facebook FanBox even simpler. FB LikeBox FanPage is a new, free module created by Giorgos Xilouris. It lets you place a FaceBook Fanbox in your Joomla page. The only thing you need to enter is the Facebook API key and the page ID of your Facebook page.

Before you start, you need a Facebook API key. This is done by installing the Facebook developer app and following the instructions provided here. Without the Facebook API key, you won't be able to have the info displayed in the module.

Download the FB LikeBox FanPage module, install it and assign it to a module position in your template. Then, enter your Facebook API key and Page ID - you're all set!

There are some more settings in the module as well, like showing the stream of updates from a selected number of users. You can also decide on the size of the box and the text displayed, to mention some of the functions. Check out the screen shot below for more. I think Khawaib Ahmed has made a nice little module and enjoyed how easy it was to set up.

I didn't do that, but it's possible to customize the module even further by customizing the stylesheet. That way, you can have the box match your template even better.

One last tip: As the FB LikeBox FanPage already has a border, you might want to use a module suffix to removed the border around your standard module display (if there is one). In the template I use, Phoenix from YooTheme, I used the 'blank' module suffix to get rid of the module border.

So - get started and show off your Facebook following in your Joomla site!

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