Connecting to Social Media Services

Send notifications to Twitter and Facebook social media services.

  • Facebook – Create notifications that send posts to a specific Facebook page.
  • Twitter – Create notifications that send Tweets from a specific account.

DISCLAIMERS:

  • You should regularly test your connections to these third-party applications.
  • The tokens you create may expire at any time, requiring reauthorization.
  • Intrado takes no responsibility for the content you generate, and we expect you to fully comply with the third-party content guidelines.
  • You agree to use the third-party applications as intended with no extensive posting.

Posting information to Twitter and Facebook follows this basic flow:

  1. Creating a Token – Authorize your account credentials through the social media service.
  2. Creating a media service – Using the Webhook module, define the format of the communication.
  3. Creating a Notification – Create a new or alter an existing notification to send your communication based on triggers.

The process is very similar for both Twitter and Facebook. The instructions identify any steps that are specific to a service.

This token is specific to your login credentials for your service account. You will be connecting directly to Twitter or Facebook, so be sure to have your login and password credentials available before beginning this process.

  1. Go to Configuration > Integrations > Token
  2. Select New
  3. For Name, enter a name for this token to make it easily identifiable.

  4. For Available in All Sites:

    • Enable to ensure all your site locations have access.
    • Disable and select a Site to limit which site has access.
  5. For Token Type, select Twitter or Facebook
    • Twitter
      1. Select Authorize, which opens a browser pop-up and connects you to the service authorization screen.
      2. Enter your username or email and password for your account.
      3. Review the third-party app permissions.
      4. Select Authorize app.
      5. Follow any other verification steps, such as two-factor authentication. The process may ask you to Authorize the app again.
    • Facebook
      1. Select Authorize, which opens a browser pop-up and connects you to the service authorization screen.
      2. Enter your Email or Phone and password for your account.
      3. Select Log In
      4. Follow the log in procedure provided by Facebook and review their third-party app permissions.
  6. Select Save

Set up an endpoint to use in a notification. Use this process to define the general appearance and format of your communication.

Twitter: When creating the Tweet, ensure your content is fewer than 280 characters, as UNP will trim the text, prioritizing any link you include.

  1. Go to Configuration > Integrations > Social Media > Twitter or Facebook
  2. Select New > New <Platform> Service
    1. For Name, enter a name for the service to make it easily identifiable.
    2. For Token, select the token for the account you want to send from. Alternatively, you can select CREATE NEW to create one at this point.
    3. (Facebook only) For Endpoint ID, select an endpoint from the list of available pages.
    4. For Escape Text, enter a character string used to bracket variable names in the Body field. The default is “%%”.
    5. For Body, enter the format of the communication using any combination of static text and variables.
    6. You can add variables using the Add text variables drop-down. Values include:
      • %%Title%%, which will be substituted with the Title field of the notification using this endpoint.
      • %%Body%%, which will be substituted with the Body field of the notification using this endpoint.
    7. For Attached Media, define if you want an image or link to always be sent with your communication.
      • Image – Select this to add an image defined in the notification using this endpoint. If your notification has more than one image, the communication will contain the first image UNP identifies.
      • Link – Select this to include the specified URL at the end of any communication.
    8. Select Save

After creation, you can edit or delete the media service from the Webhook page under the Twitter Service or Facebook Service headings.

Add your media service as an Endpoint to any existing or newly created notification.

You should not set your Twitter or Facebook Services as an endpoint on notifications that fire frequently.

  1. Go to Notifications > Manage.
  2. Select New Notification.
  3. Complete the General and Select Triggers sections as needed.
  4. For Message Details, remember that your media may use information from: Select Image, Title, and Body.
  5. For Endpoint & Contact Selection, search for and select the media service from the Endpoints tab.

If you ever need to end a connection between UNP and your social media service, you should use this process:

  1. Go to Configuration > Integrations > Tokens, find your token and select the delete icon.

  2. Go to Configuration > Integrations > Social Media > Twitter or Facebook, select Webhook, find your service entry and select the delete icon.

    This will remove the endpoint from any notifications using it.

  3. Log into Twitter or Facebook and follow their processes for revoking access to UNP.