Feature request: Facebook Connect integration

[+missamo]

I've been using geocaching.com for the last couple of weeks, and one feature I'd love to see added is integration with Facebook Connect. I'm thinking of something along the lines of what Yelp.com does. Every time I log a cache, I'd love to have geocaching.com automatically publish that to my Facebook wall.

 

Thanks!

 

Neil

[+Lil Devil]

Open this page and scroll about halfway down to Linking Twitter with Field Notes (with special bonus: Facebook!)

[+missamo]

Open this page and scroll about halfway down to Linking Twitter with Field Notes (with special bonus: Facebook!)

 

I don't actually use Twitter, so that method won't work. I was also thinking it could go beyond just whatever little note thing I put, since it's possible for sites to customize what shows up on the wall. So, for example, the update could say "missamo just found The Little White Gazebo!" and maybe even include a small map picture indicating where it was.

 

Neil

[+baloo&bd]

Open this page and scroll about halfway down to Linking Twitter with Field Notes (with special bonus: Facebook!)

 

I don't actually use Twitter, so that method won't work. I was also thinking it could go beyond just whatever little note thing I put, since it's possible for sites to customize what shows up on the wall. So, for example, the update could say "missamo just found The Little White Gazebo!" and maybe even include a small map picture indicating where it was.

 

Neil

 

There is something like that you could use, however it would still be manual. Try BrightKite , you would need to type in the info manually.

[+missamo]

There is something like that you could use, however it would still be manual. Try BrightKite , you would need to type in the info manually.

 

The point to the feature request is that I wouldn't have to do anything manually to make it happen Simply by logging my find at Geocaching.com, the find gets automatically populated to Facebook as a nicely formatted news item. Yelp does this brillantly: when I write a new review on the Yelp site they push it right away to Facebook as a pretty update, and then people at Facebook can comment on it.

 

Neil

[+dakboy]

Open this page and scroll about halfway down to Linking Twitter with Field Notes (with special bonus: Facebook!)

 

I don't actually use Twitter, so that method won't work.

Create a Twitter account just for this cross-site link then? Doesn't cost anything, just set it up so no one can follow you and you don't follow anyone.

I was also thinking it could go beyond just whatever little note thing I put, since it's possible for sites to customize what shows up on the wall. So, for example, the update could say "missamo just found The Little White Gazebo!" and maybe even include a small map picture indicating where it was.

But then your friends on Facebook would get dozens of those little map pictures each time you had a good day caching. The info is already available by clicking the link why throw even more stuff at people? I have a horrible time keeping up with my "stream" on Facebook as it is.

[Skippermark]

The point to the feature request is that I wouldn't have to do anything manually to make it happen Simply by logging my find at Geocaching.com, the find gets automatically populated to Facebook as a nicely formatted news item. Yelp does this brillantly: when I write a new review on the Yelp site they push it right away to Facebook as a pretty update, and then people at Facebook can comment on it.

As the poster before me suggested, setup a Twitter account and link to it through that. You don't have to do anything with Twitter or use it. It's just the "middle man" and passes info onto FB.

[+mtn-man]

But then your friends on Facebook would get dozens of those little map pictures each time you had a good day caching. The info is already available by clicking the link why throw even more stuff at people? I have a horrible time keeping up with my "stream" on Facebook as it is.

I hate that actually. It isn't so bad if you are not caching much. On a numbers running day it gets old reallllllly fast.

[+dakboy]

But then your friends on Facebook would get dozens of those little map pictures each time you had a good day caching. The info is already available by clicking the link why throw even more stuff at people? I have a horrible time keeping up with my "stream" on Facebook as it is.

I hate that actually. It isn't so bad if you are not caching much. On a numbers running day it gets old reallllllly fast.

Exactly.

 

Making it even worse, when I post my Field Notes, every one of those gets pushed out to Twitter all at once. I've decided to not use TextMarks for Field Notes, only for "heading to/leaving cache X" notes, else my Field Notes would be flooded with duplicates.

 

For the record, I haven't tied Twitter to Facebook yet, in part because I haven't figured out how to resolve this overload.

[lakeuk]

I think this is a great idea, agreed it would be annoying seeing an automatic post for every log but it would be good to see optional tick boxes on the log writeup page where you could tick if you want a find status sending to your Facebook Connect and/or Twitter accounts.

[AZcachemeister]

Go ahead.

Just another good reason to stay away from Facebook, TWITter, and all the rest of that.

[djhobby]

Sounds like a great idea to me. Groundspeak should get with Web 2.0.

 

If you don't want to see something in Facebook, usually there is an ignore this option so you don't have to see things in your stream you don't want. This forum should have the same option so you don't have to see all of the negative flames that are irrelevant to the original posters question.

[+missamo]

This forum should have the same option so you don't have to see all of the negative flames that are irrelevant to the original posters question.

 

You are my new favourite cacher, DJHobby

 

Neil

[+baloo&bd]

Sounds like a great idea to me. Groundspeak should get with Web 2.0.

 

If you don't want to see something in Facebook, usually there is an ignore this option so you don't have to see things in your stream you don't want. This forum should have the same option so you don't have to see all of the negative flames that are irrelevant to the original posters question.

 

Comments like this is why the ignore posts from user is so useful.

[+mtn-man]

Sounds like a great idea to me. Groundspeak should get with Web 2.0.

 

If you don't want to see something in Facebook, usually there is an ignore this option so you don't have to see things in your stream you don't want. This forum should have the same option so you don't have to see all of the negative flames that are irrelevant to the original posters question.

As has been stated in this topic, this is available from Groundspeak via Twitter then send to Facebook. There is an ignore option in Facebook. All of this has been said already in this topic.

 

My problem is that I like the person who was on a numbers run that day and I hate to block their feed. I would like to see what the other 300 something friends are doing also though. I tend to not check their feed at this point now and it doesn't automatically come in either. His loss? Mine? No big deal? I don't know. I like the idea of a check box at some point so you can send a particular cache log link to Facebook and/or Twitter. Of the 30 or 40 caches I did on the road in the last week, only one was memorable in my opinion. It might have been one I would have sent to my wall feed. I did direct upload a photo from the cache site to my Facebook wall. Later, when I did my log, I added it to the cache page and added a link to the cache to the Facebook photo.

 

[+Lil Devil]

Puppymonster is going to be hurt to know that you've been rolling in the grass with other dogs

[AZcachemeister]

Sorry.

I admit I am a retro-grouch.

Carry on!

[AZcachemeister]

Sounds like a great idea to me. Groundspeak should get with Web 2.0.

 

If you don't want to see something in Facebook, usually there is an ignore this option so you don't have to see things in your stream you don't want. This forum should have the same option so you don't have to see all of the negative flames that are irrelevant to the original posters question.

 

Having an opposing opinion is entirely relevant.

 

The OP apparently thinks his peeps are going to be interested to know every time he logs a cache...and maybe they are.

 

Personally I don't see how TWITter or Facebook (or MySpace, or...) have anything to do with finding Tupperware in the woods.

 

Never argue with a lunatic.

[djhobby]

 

Never argue with a lunatic.

 

That's funny.

 

I would be interested in seeing what some of my friends are doing in my facebook feed. I would rather have the opportunity to ignore their caching logs, than ignore their Mafia Wars request, or poll request, or Farmville request.

 

To me this is the same sort of thing I requested a few days ago. The option to follow a cacher, or a cache, or a trackable item with an RSS feed.

[+missamo]

A'ight, since I don't think people have ever seen the Yelp behaviour I grabbed a couple of screenshots:

 

 

The top piece is when you write your review (i.e. log your find/travelbug/whatever). And yes, there's a checkbox to indicate whether you want to publish it to Facebook.

 

The bottom piece is what it looks like on Facebook. It's more than just replicating a twitter status update to your status update. It includes a specific block of formatted info about the place the review is for, links to the company on the Yelp site, etc.

 

If this were a cache find imagine it providing the detailed name of the cache, difficulty, and an update on how many finds I have. If it were a travelbug pick/drop imagine it said how far the bug had gone around the world, and had a link back to the travelbug's page.

 

Just sayin' there's all sorts of ways Groundspeak could up the thing that shows up on the wall beyond just "TFTC".

 

Neil

[+The Leprechauns]

Thank you for posting the example. Seeing it, I am even more certain of my opinion: that development efforts ought to focus on fixing and improving THIS site in preference to extending geocaching features to other sites that are only used by a subset of the geocaching population.

 

I have no objection to more Twitter and Facebook oriented features because they don't affect me. But if taking time to develop them takes away from other projects that I would benefit from, like redesigning pocket queries, then it does affect me. So, put the request on the list, but below the items deemed of high importance for Geocaching.com updates.

[lakeuk]

Had a thought, could a facebook/twitter checkbox be added to the 'log your visit' page using greasemonkey, and are any GM experts out there willing to attempt a script?

[+ePeterso2]

Thank you for posting the example. Seeing it, I am even more certain of my opinion: that development efforts ought to focus on fixing and improving THIS site in preference to extending geocaching features to other sites that are only used by a subset of the geocaching population.

Amen, brother!

 

(More GPX fields, anyone? Anyone?)

 

[tangent]This reminds me of a story I heard once in the context of golf. An amateur asked a teaching pro if he could learn to hit the ball so that it would roll backwards on the green just like the pros on TV hit it. The teacher asked: "Do you hit the ball short of the hole or past the hole?" The amateur replied: "Oh, I'm always short of the hole." The teacher responded: "If you're always short of the hole, why do you want the ball to spin backwards?"[/tangent]

 

-eP

[djhobby]

Had a thought, could a facebook/twitter checkbox be added to the 'log your visit' page using greasemonkey, and are any GM experts out there willing to attempt a script?

 

Now there's a great idea. Now if someone would just make the script. I use a few different scripts already on Geocaching.com to show all the logs on a page, decrypt the ROT 13, and a few other things, etc...