iPage: WordPress - Facebook API change - oEmbed

What is oEmbed, and what is changing?

In the past, WordPress permitted users to embed Facebook and Instagram content easily into their websites without any credentials using oEmbed. Facebook was deprecating legacy oEmbed support on October 24, 2020. Content that was created using unauthenticated oEmbed will break on that date.

Will this impact my site?

While you may not have used oEmbed directly, it's possible that one of your WordPress plugins used that method to embed Facebook/Instagram content into your site. Plugin creators are aware of this issue and will be working on solutions. 

What can I do?

If you have used oEmbed to place content on your site, you will notice that it will not display on October 24, 2020. There are WordPress plugins that can fix the issue with oEmbed for your Facebook and Instagram WordPress embeds. Please see the list of recommended plugins below for more information.

Recommended Plugins

As always with WordPress, users have several different options for fixing this issue. Various plugins have come up with clever workarounds for the oEmbed deprecation.

Jetpack

Jetpack is in partnership with Facebook to handle developer ID creation on the back-end. As outlined in this article, you will want to install Jetpack and connect your website to your Facebook account. What is great with this plugin is that it will handle registering a Facebook developer account, creating an app, and providing a token all through their service.

Smash Balloon

Smash Balloon has found a way to share a developer account with its users. From this WP Beginner article:
“...Since Smash Balloon has to register an API key to create custom feeds for both Facebook and Instagram, we didn’t need any additional authentication to restore this functionality.”

Smash Balloon users simply need to upgrade their plugin installation. Those who are interested in installing Smash Balloon will do so and follow these steps:

1. In the WordPress dashboard, navigate to Smash Ballon’s Facebook / Instagram feed plugin.
2. Click the oEmbed navigation menu.
3. Then click the Connect button.

oEmbed Plus

oEmbed Plus is a plugin that guides users in registering a Facebook developer ID and creating an app to get API credentials.

1. Go to Facebook for Developers and click on Get Started.
2. Create your developer account.
3. Register your App ID.
4. Add Facebook oEmbed product.
5. Generate your App Access Token.
6. You will now be able to use oEmbed Plus.

Setting up oEmbed Plus

1. Add the oEmbed Plus plugin into Plugins in your WordPress dashboard.
2. In your Dashboard, go to Settings and Writing.
3. Enter your App ID and App Secret, then Save Changes.

Once saved, any existing embedded content for the website should continue to work, and new content will use the new APIs going forward.