Import Comments from Facebook

Question

If you have a Facebook-Page you know the «problem»: Users post their comments to the facebook-link instead of commenting on your own page. that itself is not the «problem» — the «problem» is, that this way only a fraction of your pages readers acctually see (and could interact with) the comment, while commenting on your own page let everyone be able to see the comment.

There a various pages out there which fetch the comments from «Likers» on Facebook to a Story/Link and include them into the comment-flow on their own page.

Is there a module or a technique (I don't know PHP), to include Comments from Facebook back into ExpressionEngines comments module? (not only «show» but actually include/import into the db)

Answer 1

It'd be a tall order to synchronize activity on any third party social network and your EE site; if you absolutely need a unified experience, pick one and forget about the EE comments module.

How is it a tall order? Imagine Facebook Frank leaving a comment on your Facebook site, which Local Site Larry (who doesn't have a Facebook account) responds to via the comments module in EE. How would you represent Local Site Larry on Facebook when his comment gets synchronized there? What happens when Local Site Lucy, who also has a Facebook account, is participating in a thread via both Facebook and your EE site? How do you tie her EE account to her Facebook account? It's gets mighty complex mighty fast.

Facebook has a few different options for commenting/activity via front-end/JS widgets that can be embedded on your site; if you're looking for a more robust commenting system that's centered on your site, instead of Facebook, Disqus is the go-to tool these days, I believe.