# Facebook Integration

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/facebook-integration/181263>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [January 8, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/facebook-integration/181263 "2010-01-08T14:24:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/facebook-integration/181263/1 "2010-01-08T14:24:23Z")

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I want to display my facebook updates on my rails application. I presume  
I’d use a plug-in for this or is there a better way?

Thanks.

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**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 3:12pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/facebook-integration/181263/2 "2010-01-08T15:12:21Z")

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Pale H. wrote:

> I want to display my facebook updates on my rails application. I presume  
> I’d use a plug-in for this or is there a better way?

A slight variation to “Google is your friend.” In these cases “Github is  
your friend.”

> **[GitHub - mmangino/facebooker: The facebooker Rails plugin](https://github.com/mmangino/facebooker/)**
>
> The facebooker Rails plugin. Contribute to mmangino/facebooker development by creating an account on GitHub.

I just typed Facebook in the Github search field. It listed this as the  
first result. I have no experience with this, but I have heard of it so  
I’m assuming it will probably work well.

You don’t really have to use a plugin however. Facebook has a public  
RESTful API:

> **[Meta for Developers](https://developers.facebook.com/)**
>
> Code to connect people with Facebook for Developers. Explore AI, business tools, gaming, open source, publishing, social hardware, social integration, and virtual reality. Learn about Facebook’s global programs to educate and connect developers.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@mercurius](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/mercurius)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/facebook-integration/181263/3 "2010-01-08T16:27:46Z")

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Robert W. wrote:

> Pale H. wrote:
> 
> > I want to display my facebook updates on my rails application. I presume  
> > I’d use a plug-in for this or is there a better way?
> 
> A slight variation to “Google is your friend.” In these cases “Github is  
> your friend.”
> 
> [GitHub - mmangino/facebooker: The facebooker Rails plugin](http://github.com/mmangino/facebooker/)
> 
> I just typed Facebook in the Github search field. It listed this as the  
> first result. I have no experience with this, but I have heard of it so  
> I’m assuming it will probably work well.

I’ve used it. It generally works well, though the docs could be a bit  
better.

Read the Facebook developer wiki and forums.

> You don’t really have to use a plugin however. Facebook has a public  
> RESTful API:
> 
> [http://developers.facebook.com](http://developers.facebook.com)

But unless they’ve changed things, a plugin is still helpful to generate  
the cryptographic signature that authenticates API requests. Facebooker  
also includers a bit of JS syntactic sugar since you can’t use libraries  
like Prototype on Facebook canvas apps.

Best,  
–Â  
Marnen Laibow-Koser  
[http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org)  
removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid