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How to configure share counts (X and Facebook)

To display X and Facebook share counts, you need to configure them. Don’t worry, it only takes a few minutes.

Enable Twitter counts

As of 2023, it’s no longer possible to enable share counts for X (formerly Twitter). This is simply due to changes to X from Elon Musk.

Twitter stopped offering its share count API years ago, but thankfully there are some alternative options provided by other companies. These are free services that aggregate all the data.

TwitCount

Follow the steps below to enable Twitter share counts using TwitCount.

Step 1

Click into the Novashare plugin settings.

Novashare plugin settings
Novashare plugin settings

Step 2

Click on the “Configuration” submenu.

Novashare Configuration
Novashare Configuration

Step 3

Toggle on the option “Enable Twitter Counts.”

Enable Twitter Counts
Enable Twitter Counts

Step 4

For the Twitter Count Service, leave the default, “TwitCount” selected.

Twitter Count Service - TwitCount
Twitter Count Service – TwitCount

Step 5

Visit twitcount.com and sign up for a free account. Before clicking the button, make sure you are logged into the Twitter account you want to use for your site.

Sign up for TwitCount
Sign up for TwitCount

Step 6

Input your domain for which you want it to count shares. For example, with our @novashareio Twitter, we have it looking at our novashare.io website. Any posts or pages shared from novashare.io on Twitter will then be counted.

TwitCount dashboard
TwitCount dashboard

And that’s it! Once you have TwitCount set up, Twitter shares will start showing up on your site.

Note: According to TwitCount, counts will start appearing in approximately 1 hour. This is due to the API limitations. The API provides information only for the tweets in the last week or so. This means that old pages may show incomplete counts. Starting the day you configure TwitCount, all new pages will have complete counts data.

OpenShareCount

Follow the steps below to enable Twitter share counts using OpenShareCount.

Step 1

Click into the Novashare plugin settings.

Novashare plugin settings
Novashare plugin settings

Step 2

Click on the “Configuration” submenu.

Novashare Configuration
Novashare Configuration

Step 3

Toggle on the option “Enable Twitter Counts.”

Enable Twitter Counts
Enable Twitter Counts

Step 4

For the Twitter Count Service, choose the “OpenShareCount” option.

Twitter Count Service - OpenShareCount
Twitter Count Service – OpenShareCount

Step 5

Visit opensharecount.com and sign up for a free account. Before clicking the button, make sure you are logged into the Twitter account you want to use for your site.

Sign up for OpenShareCount
Sign up for OpenShareCount

And that’s it! Once you have OpenShareCount setup, Twitter shares will start showing up on your site.

Confirmation of OpenShareCount sign up
Confirmation of OpenShareCount sign up

Note: According to OpenShareCount, counts will start appearing in approximately 1 hour. This is due to the API limitations. The API provides information only for the tweets in the last week or so. This means that old pages may show incomplete counts. Starting the day you configure OpenShareCount, all new pages will have complete counts data.

Facebook app ID and secret

To set up Facebook shares, you need to create a Meta developer account. Don’t worry, this is easy and completely free.

Follow the steps below to enable Facebook share counts.

Step 1

Visit developers.facebook.com/apps/. If you don’t have a developer account, you’ll need to sign up for one. Click on “Get Started” in the top right.

If you already have one, you can skip down to Step 2.

Get Started
Get Started

It will walk you through creating a Meta for Developers account.

Meta for Developers account
Meta for Developers account

Step 2

Visit developers.facebook.com/apps/ and click “Add a New App.”

Facebook create app
Facebook create app

Step 3

For the use case, choose “Other” and click “Next.”

Facebook app use case
Facebook app use case

Step 4

For the app type, choose “Business” and click “Next.”

Facebook app type business
Facebook app type business

Step 5

Input a name for your app. This can be anything you want it to be. Input your email address and whether or not you’re using it for yourself or a client. Then click “Create App.”

Facebook app creation
Facebook app creation

Step 6

Click into “Settings → Basic.”

Facebook app basic settings
Facebook app basic settings

Step 7

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “Add Platform.” Then click “Website.”

Add platform website on Facebook App
Add platform website on Facebook App

Step 8

Add your website’s URL and click “Save Changes.”

Add Facebook Site URL
Add Facebook Site URL

Step 9

Scroll back up to the top and input your website’s Privacy Policy URL and Terms of Service URL. As of August 31, 2020, a Privacy Policy URL is required.

Facebook App Privacy and Terms
Facebook App Privacy and Terms

Step 10

At the very top, copy your Facebook App ID and App Secret to your clipboard as you will need to enter this in the Novashare plugin settings.

Facebook App ID and App Secret
Facebook App ID and App Secret

Step 11

Back on your WordPress site, click into the Novashare plugin settings.

Novashare plugin settings
Novashare plugin settings

Step 12

Click on the “Configuration” submenu.

Novashare Configuration
Novashare Configuration

Step 13

Paste in your Facebook App ID and Facebook App Secret.

Novashare Facebook App ID and Facebook App Secret
Novashare Facebook App ID and Facebook App Secret

Step 14

Scroll down and click “Save Changes.”

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