Introducing Goodreads for Facebook Timeline

Riku wrote: "what should be done to push a "is finished with" update to facebook instead of a "rated a book" update?"

When you finish with a book, change the "start date" to be within 24 hours of now, i.e. if you're posting that you've finished a book on Jan 24, 2012 at 11pm, then the "start time" should be set at Jan 23, 2012.

If the "start date" is more than 24 hours away from the moment you save the changes, then the "is finished with" update will fail (with the error I posted above). This means that if you retroactively change the details of your book review by editing the details, it will fail and the read book will now be removed from the FB GR app. To restore it, you will again need to change the "finished date" to "today" and "start date" to within 24 hours of the time when you're editing your post.

Is there now a way to show all books?

Josh wrote: "Riku wrote: "what should be done to push a "is finished with" update to facebook instead of a "rated a book" update?"

When you finish with a book, change the "start date" to be within 24 hours of ..."

:) Every book wil be finished in 1 day. Nice.

I had my GR and FB accounts synced, but ever since I went to timeline, Nothing from goodreads shows up on there anymore. :(

I have come back to this every few days and I still cannot get it to work. Loading..loading.. and I no longer have any goodreads stuff showing up on my fb page.

I just want my publish to Facebook or Twitter links back on my reviews!
LOL, Josh -- so we just need to read faster and it will work?
Josh wrote: "So the current workaround is to keep the start dates and end dates within 24 hours of each other. "
Tonight there was a change I am now getting multiple "made progress with book..." posts on the timeline, which is "ok". I deleted the 'made progress' timeline posts that were showing on books I had finished.

I love the ideas to show the images of my books on the FB timeline; however, currently it is showing "Made progress with “Dark Challenge”"

I want to see the actual page or % of my current book. I update my status every morning; I do not like seeing "Made progress with…" many times... Will this be fixed? It works on Twitter well. Sample: 68% done with Dark Challenge.

Looks like everyone is going to be forced to use Timeline by Jan. 31st :(

Today was the first time any of my GR activity displayed on FB (in the new timeline) however,it's more like an advertisement for GR than a reading update for my book loving friends. It merely states, "Bonnie rated Kill the Dead (Sandman Slim, #2) on Goodreads." Below that is a "shout-out" for GR. Kind of disappointing.

I don't understand... are you able to add your "Books Read," "Currently Reading," etc boxes like in those picture previews? I don't have anything like that on mine. And any way to add a box on the main timeline page or do people have to click the Goodreads app on your page to get your Goodreads activity?

Licha, it's already been established earlier in the thread that customized page/percentges read are not compatible with the way Facebook wants its Timeline apps to work.

The action has to be consistent for users of the app and all books. It can no longer be customized to each individual user. So Goodreads compromised on "made progress with." I miss this functionality, too, but unfortunately it is not coming back any time soon, and that is an issue on Facebook's end, not Goodreads'.

If you want a better explanation, check the earlier pages of this thread for Kara's posts. It has been explained a couple of times already in pages 1-3.

Kelly wrote: "I don't understand... are you able to add your "Books Read," "Currently Reading," etc boxes like in those picture previews? I don't have anything like that on mine. And any way to add a box on the ..."

Kelly, not from what I can discern. It is more like a very "generic" posting (in this case it does not even show the rating I gave the book(s)). If I click on the title or graphic of the book, it does not redirect to my personal GR page, it navigates to a summary of the book. None of the displays depicted in the photos from GR (library, currently reading, etc.)show on my Timeline.

Matt wrote: "Ok, folks. I thought I would go back to square one and start everything over from scratch to see if I could come up with a nice "how-to" for getting your Goodreads updates posting to your Facebook ..."

This worked perfectly for me for status updates on the timeline. But there is no way to now make it a "status" so that it posts to everyones wall like before?

Robin wrote: "I did all the steps I could but I get no pop up. When I hold down shift and click the blue box all I get is another window popping up with my profile on it. I give up."

I had the same issue. I had to disable my popup and then enable it. No biggie.

Is it still possible to post to facebook without timeline?

Any time frame as to when this will be a working app?

Angela wrote: "Licha, it's already been established earlier in the thread that customized page/percentges read are not compatible with the way Facebook wants its Timeline apps to work.

The action has to be c..."


Well, that is false info... i have developed a dummy app that can do both - all you have to do is make the app ask permission to post activity to app timeline as well as to publish as you.

The restriction of "The action has to be consistent for users of the app and all books." is only applicable on the interaction with app timeline. Elementary really.

Goodeads own app is able to post text updates that are not "standard acros users" when you try sharing a quote through it... If nothing else they can allow our book progress updates to be shared with an extra click below the update (as in the case of quotes) instead of making us go through elaborate 16 steps procedures.

Bonnie wrote: "Today was the first time any of my GR activity displayed on FB (in the new timeline) however,it's more like an advertisement for GR than a reading update for my book loving friends. It merely stat..."


Exactly - it is less about that particular book and more about my name and goodreads.. the book literally fades in the update.

Henry wrote: "Is it still possible to post to facebook without timeline?"

I wasn't able to. But everyone is going to be switched over to Timeline by the first of Feb.

I get a spinning wheel with no Facebook connection being made. Gonna keep trying, maybe it'll work later.

Just for giggles I deleted my existing Goodreads connection from my Facebook App and tried connecting from here again, I still just get a spinning wheel. Sigh.

Had to allow popups. All good.

I would really like this to work, but I haven't been able to push updates to Timeline since I first added it - meaning my overview is stuck at books I already finished.

I've tried disconnecting and reconnecting in all possible ways. I played with the permissions and basically pushed every button. Hopefully, someone at Goodreads will fix this feature, as I do like it. If there's any debugging info I can provide, just let me know.

Vincent wrote: "I would really like this to work, but I haven't been able to push updates to Timeline since I first added it - meaning my overview is stuck at books I already finished.

I've tried disconnecting an..."

You might try logging out, then logging back in through Facebook Connect before pushing the next update. It might land in your Timeline's "Activity Log" initially, so you might want to check there.

See this help topic for some troubleshooting tips: http://www.goodreads.com/help/show/24....

Ok, so is it supposed to show as a "status" as well? Or no? I'm just wondering if mine is working correctly or not...

The first update status I did on one book after connecting posted to my goodreads timeline and as a facebook status update, the rest of the updates for that book did not.

The next book I posted a first update status on did not post as a status to facebook.

Kat wrote: "Ok, so is it supposed to show as a "status" as well? Or no? I'm just wondering if mine is working correctly or not...

The first update status I did on one book after connecting posted to my goodre..."

I took a look at your account, and it seems that our access to your Timeline expired. Would you mind logging out and logging back in through Facebook Connect? Now try updating your status again. Do you see it in your Activity Log? If not, let me know and we can figure out what's going wrong.

Ok, I see "Kat made progress with Dead Man Walking on Goodreads." on the activity log. But not the %. . .

On the Goodreads timeline, I see the updates. But I don't see anything posting to the public wall where I see everyone's posts, is it supposed to?

Kat wrote: "Ok, I see "Kat made progress with Dead Man Walking on Goodreads." on the activity log. But not the %. . .

On the Goodreads timeline, I see the updates. But I don't see anything posting to the pub..."


If you see the update in your Activity Log, you can force it to display in its own box on your Timeline. See instructions here. The percentage should then appear.

We unfortunately do not have much control over what appears in the News Feed and Ticker - that's dependent on Facebook's algorithms. However, the more you interact with the app (and others interact with your updates), the more prominently your updates will be displayed.

Thank you, I guess I have it set up as much as it can be for now

This isn't working for me at all. I have the app set up and I've favourited it in Facebook. I have my sharing preferences done properly on Goodreads. But nothing I post is showing up in my activity feed. The only thing I can think of is that I'm not signed into Goodreads with Facebook Connect. Do I have to do that? I would really rather not as I try to keep my online activities mainly separate.

Dena wrote: "This isn't working for me at all. I have the app set up and I've favourited it in Facebook. I have my sharing preferences done properly on Goodreads. But nothing I post is showing up in my activity..."

It looks like our access to your Timeline also expired (we're contacting Facebook about why this keeps happening). Signing in through Facebook Connect is the way to fix it. Your accounts are already linked, since you gave us permission to post on your Timeline. Signing in through Facebook Connect won't change anything.

Hmm. I do have the Facebook Disconnect Chrome extension enabled - would that have anything to do with it (although it's been enabled for a while and I was able to post the old way to Facebook with it on).

Maybe I'll just wait until the expiring timeline issue is fixed.

Dena wrote: "Hmm. I do have the Facebook Disconnect Chrome extension enabled - would that have anything to do with it (although it's been enabled for a while and I was able to post the old way to Facebook with ..."

Looking at the Facebook Disconnect's description: "Facebook Disconnect blocks all traffic from third-party sites to Facebook servers but still lets you access Facebook itself."

We need to contact Facebook's servers to send your updates over.

That was it - I just disabled the extension and an update posted to the timeline.

Now I just have to decide if I want to keep it disabled...

Was wondering why my "Jennifer is on page..." updates weren't posting to my Facebook feed the last few days. Seems this is why. Very disappointed with this change. It was one of the major reasons I was using the site. :(

Just tried to test a update and yeah, nothing goes to my feed now. People have to go to my actual profile (which is the only place it shows up) to see if I'm reading something now and where I am in it. Defeats the whole purpose for me if it's not in my feed. What's the point anymore? No one visits profiles, they stay on their feed. :|

Jennifer wrote: "Just tried to test a update and yeah, nothing goes to my feed now. People have to go to my actual profile (which is the only place it shows up) to see if I'm reading something now and where I am in..."

We don't have direct control over what shows up on News Feeds, as that's dependent on Facebook's algorithms. But the more you interact with the app and the more likes/comments you get on your updates, the more prominently the updates will display.

Kara wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Just tried to test a update and yeah, nothing goes to my feed now. People have to go to my actual profile (which is the only place it shows up) to see if I'm reading something now ..."

This is a self imposed restriction kara. You have complete control while sharing quotes and while sharing this blog through the fb button. Just give us a share button below our status updates and we'll do it ourselves. Sure beats going to so many steps (facebook, activity log etc) + our friends can see it, which is the whole point.

Yeah, just put the share button back please on update statuses for books!

Riku wrote: "Kara wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Just tried to test a update and yeah, nothing goes to my feed now. People have to go to my actual profile (which is the only place it shows up) to see if I'm reading s..."

Again goodreads staff is confusing two types of things in facebook.

Let's imagine that Kara, Riku and I are Facebook friends. I have goodreads attached to my account. Whether or not I publish things to my newsfeed has nothing to do with facebook algorithms. I (and perhaps whatever apps use) choose whether or not to publish. Occasionally water.org will publish something, Sims Social will publish whenever I choose, I write a status on every weird or quirky thing that happens to me, basically every time I take an instagram photo, that gets published. All of these things are published to my wall and should appear in the newsfeed (especially if I sort by "recent stories" instead of "highlighted stories"). Everything. Where the facebook algorithms come in are what gets "highlighted" by facebook. That's where people reading, liking and commenting on my stories matters.

Now, remember, Kara and Riku are my friends. Kara is not really that fond of me. She only friended me because we knew each other in high school, she disagrees with me politically, and she thinks I'm weird. So she does not subscribe to my newsfeed stuff. She's not going to see my stuff. Not only will she not see my goodreads, she won't see my instagram or any of that stuff. Riku, on the other hand is my best friend, she subscribes to my feed updates and is always commenting on or liking them. Riku will see most, if not all of my newsfeed updates. I, on the other hand, should ALWAYS see my own newsfeed updates - especially if I sort my newsfeed with the "recent stories" option.

When people complain that it is not showing up in their newsfeed, that is a goodreads issue, not a facebook issue. Because that person should ALWAYS be able to see their own stuff. If they don't, goodreads is not publishing them.

Every other app I use understands this. They ask if I want to share something. I say yes and it shows up. Goodreads has the ability to do this if they want. This is what everyone has been complaining about for 10 days. The same as you give the option to share every update with twitter, we should also have the option to share every update with Facebook. Just as we were able to before. This is the only reason that a lot of us use goodreads. I know that you are trying to upgrade to this cool new thing to work with timeline and that is great. But we want that simple old ability to publish to the newsfeeds to stay in addition to your new features.

Thank you for responding to us all Kara and thank the developers for their hard work dealing with this.

Niki wrote: "Riku wrote: "Kara wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Just tried to test a update and yeah, nothing goes to my feed now. People have to go to my actual profile (which is the only place it shows up) to see if ..."

You're right in your in staying that there are two ways we could share an update with Facebook. We're really excited about the new way to share, via the Timeline, because it can tell the story of your reading life in a way that the old way just can't.

We've all been working really hard to handle some unexpected issues. I'm expecting that all the issues about actions not posting to be clear up very soon.

We are listening to your suggestions and we're thinking of ways to achieve a balance between the new way (timeline) and directly sharing items and actions as stories in the newsfeed.

Have a nice weekend :)

Daniel wrote: "Niki wrote: "Riku wrote: "Kara wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Just tried to test a update and yeah, nothing goes to my feed now. People have to go to my actual profile (which is the only place it shows u..."

To repeat, there IS a simple way:

Introduce the facebook share button that you have for the quotes section etc for our updates too and I would gladly use that to manually share every time the updates which I want to see outside the app timeline and the rest will go quietly into the app timeline -

hence my entire reading activity will be seen inside the app timeline and my friends can see the few updates I really want them to see.

Now tell that wouldn't be a a simple solution that will satisfy all the people posting here.

Why don't you take the trouble to copy paste a few lines of code to help your users out?

Niki and Riku pretty much summed up my confusion on why we still can't have the choice to publish our page statuses manually to our feed as before. :/

When I used my old FB, my update about book which is categorized as currently reading, could appear on my FB wall full. But now, only appear as "Made progress with Jas Wakil Rakyat dan Tiga Kera: Percikan..." What should I do to make my currently reading update can appear full with its quotation or opinion on the news feed?

Please take a look at this screenshot of my letter to goodreads support to get an idea of what measure I am proposing here.

http://twitpic.com/8cteck

I hope the support mails me back - but I am putting it here too cos the standard replying time by support has gone from a few hours pre-facebook-fiasco to more than a week since then. Sigh.

Kara, I've appreciated your calm voice trying to walk us through the changes, but it seems clear that the changes that prevent us from having our Goodreads activities from posting on our news feeds are due to Goodreads, not any FB algorithm issues. As others have said, I would really like to see the FB share button restored, since that seems like the most likely easy solution.

I've followed all your instructions, and my book reviews still do not necessarily show up on my FB activity log, let alone on my timeline.

The idea of trying to manually add each Goodreads action to my timeline (where effectively NONE of my friends will see it anyway) defeats the whole idea of sharing reading activities with friends.

I have read several threads on the subject and followed all the advices. And there are still problems with my FB feed. The GR box does not show my currently reading information, but whenever I mark a book as read and rate it, the feed shows it two or three times and reads it as two or three separate books. The review of a book I have published yesterday did not show up on FB feed at all :-(

I am also having difficulties, Sandy. I repeat that I would like to see the FB share button back. I cannot see my reviews either and neither can my friends.

I'm curious why the GoodReads timeline seems to be out of order. . .

For example, I go to just the GoodReads timeline, and at the top it shows: (easier to show a pic then explain)

Image Example or if that link doesn't work due to hotlinking, you can click the image to make it bigger at this URL: Image Example

I'm curious why #1 isn't where #2 is, and #2 where #3 is and #3 where #1 is...you know, in order of what I am currently reading to what I WAS reading. . . would seem to make more sense to me...

and will it be fixed to import existing "to-read" books, and ratings? It only seems to import ones that are added after switching to "timeline"

Funny video about Facebook Timeline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BMgF0...