Custom Image_Src
Specify a custom sharing image for Facebook. You can upload an image, use the first image in the post, or use the post thumbnail.
The facts
- Active installs
- 100+
- Price
- Free
- Last updated
- 25 Oct 2011
- Added
- Oct 2011
- Requires WP
- 3.0
- Tested up to
- WP 3.2.1
- Downloads
- 12,287
Our analysis
AI-assistedCustom Image_Src is a WordPress plugin that allows you to specify which image appears when sharing links to your blog posts on Facebook. This is particularly useful if your post does not contain any images or if you want to use a different image than what is in the content.
The plugin works by adding a specific image link to the header of your site, which Facebook will then use as the share image. However, it may conflict with other plugins that also manage sharing information or Open Graph tags.
Best for: This plugin is suitable for WordPress users who want to manage Facebook share images for their posts.
What it does well
- ✓Allows control over share image on Facebook
- ✓Useful for posts without images
- ✓Free to use from the WordPress.org directory
Where it falls short
- •Last updated in October 2011
- •Rated E with a low directory score
- •May conflict with other sharing or Open Graph plugins
Verdict
Custom Image_Src provides a simple solution for specifying share images, but its outdated status and potential conflicts may limit its effectiveness.
From the developer
OverlappingElvis's own description of Custom Image_Src, lightly tidied.
If you’re sharing a link to a blog post on Facebook, having a thumbnail image makes for a much more effective share. If you have an image in the body of your post, Facebook will use that as the share image, but what if you don’t have any images in your post or want to specify an image you’re not using in the content? To solve this problem, I created a WordPress plugin that allows you to control which image shows when a link from your WordPress site is shared on Facebook.
- Thanks to Dimas Begunoff for the amazingly helpful WPAlchemy MetaBox PHP Class.
- I’m using the
<link rel="image_src" href="…" />approach. If you’re adding more Open Graph meta tags to your<head>, you’d probably want to use<meta property="og:image" content="…" />, but in that case you probably also don’t need this plugin. - If you’re using any other plugins that add sharing info, Open Graph tags, or similar, this plugin will probably conflict with those.
For questions, comments, or bugs, you can reach me at @Overlapping or OverlappingElvis [at] gmail [dot] com.