Posting to Facebook with out logging in to FB interface?

March 25, 2020 9:51 AM

Since FB long ago disabled post-by-email, and they've blocked tools like ITTT from crossposting from other platforms, is there any other way to post to FB to keep my friends/family up to date without having to log in and see the ads and memes? I know there are paid tools that marketers use to queue up and stage posts etc, but I'm trying to find a free tool just for personal use. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
posted by blackfly to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

I believe it is still possible to post by SMS. Here are Facebook's instructions for activating post-by-text. And here's some post-by-text troubleshooting advice from Facebook.
posted by jedicus at 9:54 AM on March 25, 2020

Oh, good old SMS, what do you know! This looks promising, I'll investigate, thanks!

Oh, and I did discover that since FB owns Instagram as well, they do allow automatic posting across accounts there. Still see IG ads, but there is a lot less noise there, so while it isn't the perfect solution, it might be OK as well.
posted by blackfly at 10:05 AM on March 25, 2020

This would still require you to log in but stop you from seeing memes & ads, which may or may not work for you: If you don't want to see anything anyone posts, you can use the Chrome extension nudge to unfollow (not unfriend) everyone/everything so your feed is totally empty. I'm not sure if it kills ads or not but you can use a separate adblocker.
posted by needs more cowbell at 10:18 AM on March 25, 2020

In line with the above, if you have the ability to log in to FB from a desktop machine, you can use FB Purity to basically block ads or even your whole feed if you want.
posted by jessamyn at 10:26 AM on March 25, 2020

I was going to say--FB Purity can wipe your feed clean.
posted by praemunire at 10:39 AM on March 25, 2020

I do use FB Purity, but I was really hoping to not have to see the site at all. Also, preference is doing it from mobile if possible :)

So far the Post via SMS doesn't seem to work . . . still testing.
posted by blackfly at 10:47 AM on March 25, 2020

This is a solution within the FB app, but you can go to Menu > Settings > News Feed Settings > News Feed Preferences > Unfollow people to hide their posts. If you unfollow everyone you're friends with, your feed should be empty when you log in. I don't think there's a way to disable the ads, unfortunately, though I do get a lot less when I do the dropdown on an ad and select "Hide ad".
posted by DoubleLune at 11:07 AM on March 25, 2020

This probably isn't exactly what you are looking for, but my wife deleted the FB app, and posts pictures to her Instagram which is linked to the FB account so that the posts show up in FB. But this way she isn't able to mindlessly scroll through the feed.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 12:14 PM on March 25, 2020

I know this is still not ideal but fwiw if you let Nudge do its thing it will kill your feed anywhere you (try to) look at it, whether nudge is installed or not, because it's just some kind of automated script to unfollow everyone you're friends with. I use Facebook in Safari (web browser) on my phone and there is no feed to look at.
posted by needs more cowbell at 12:21 PM on March 25, 2020

Buffer has a free plan and can post to Facebook.
posted by zsazsa at 12:50 PM on March 25, 2020

I use facebook mostly through the low-bandwidth version at d.facebook.com. It's optimized for low end smartphones, and has much less of the stuff that bothers you. It's also possible to access facebook messenger from a phone this way without having to install the facebook app or the messenger app.
posted by moonmilk at 1:02 PM on March 25, 2020

HootSuite also has a free tier, and does this.
posted by jenkinsEar at 7:58 PM on March 25, 2020