A bazillion people are having more trouble with Facebook iPad app

In the past less-than 48 hours, my Dec. 2011 post “How to comment with the new Facebook iPad app” has buh-lown up. My blog has gotten almost 1,800 hits, with the majority of folks looking at this post. What’s going on?!

I’m really sorry to say, but I don’t know. My app is working properly (sorry!).  Readers have commented that, basically, their Facebook iPad app isn’t allowing them to comment on posts in their newsfeeds. When these users click on “comment” on a post, a box should pop up on the right and you should be allowed to comment. See my photo above.

But for a lot of folks, it seems this box is disappearing before they can comment, and it’s not reappearing when they tap “comment.” It doesn’t seem to be a problem exclusive to different iPad versions. And the smarties that we are, we’ve all checked the App Store to make sure we have the latest edition of the Facebook iPad app, which we do, from April 2, 2012. It also isn’t a problem with wireless keyboards.

Let’s keep discussing this and helping each other figure out a solution! I’ll do my research and you do yours. It looks like Facebook needs to fix a glitch…and from the looks of my blog stats, it needs to be fixed fast!

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Facebook launches app for brand page admins!

According to a Mashable article, “Manage Your Brand’s Facebook Page From this New App,” Facebook unveiled yesterday an app made just for admins of pages.

YESSSS.

I’ve been a blogger for about 3.5 years, and no series of posts on this blog has gotten more hits and comments than the ones I’ve written about the lack of an app for Facebook admins.

I’m beyond excited, and I hope the hundreds of people using search terms like “how the $@!% do I update my biz FB page on iPad” are excited now, too.

Note: It’s an iPhone app, and there isn’t an iPad version yet, but blow it up to 2x and it’ll be just fine. Or don’t. Either way it’s a-okay.

What we can do now (aka: oh, the power!):

1) We can now post a photo AND give it a caption. All at the same time! [With the regular Facebook app, we couldn’t; we had to post the photo, then comment on it if we wanted to add a description. And half the time, it didn’t work, so I had to scurry to Safari and comment.]

2) We can view insights!

3) We can post knowing for sure we’re posting as the page! [Long story short, with the regular Facebook app, as you’re typing a comment or update on your business page, it appears as if it will come from your personal account. But when you posted, it posted as your page. There was always a split second of anxiety not quite knowing what it’ll choose to do…]

4) When we post a link to a webpage, just like the desktop version of Facebook, it still provides a preview and image. It shows the URL, and you can’t delete it, but I can settle for that.

5) We can delete comments and ban users. Tools I use rarely but am happy to have.

Here are the past posts discussing this Facebook iPad app topic:

October 14, 2011: Everything’s great about Facebook’s new iPad app, except…

December 1, 2011: Reader finds solution for annoying Facebook iPad glitch

March 23, 2012: It’s not you: Why you can’t be a good admin with the Facebook iPad app

It’s not you: Why you can’t be a good admin with the Facebook iPad app

It’s kinda tough to be an admin on your business or organization’s Facebook page and use the Facebook iPad app to do your business. Naturally, the app lacks a lot of features that the desktop browser version of Facebook has. But the app, as we’ve discussed here before, discriminates between using the app to update your personal profile and updating your organization’s profile (aka, the page you’re an admin of). The question is: why aren’t the features equal with so many brands, businesses and organizations using Facebook?

For instance: When I’m updating my personal Facebook page, I go to my wall and click on Status. Look at all the fabulous options I have:

Now, if I want to update my organization’s Facebook page, I have two options: “Write Post” and “Share Photo.” As such:

Let’s choose “Write Post.” As you can see, I don’t have the same options I did when I was in my personal account. All I can do is update the page with text. I can’t attach a photo or video, much less tag anyone or include a location.

Now let’s choose “Share Photo.” We have the option of uploading a photo/video from our iPad library or creating a new photo/video.

Regardless of which option we choose, we can’t post a text-based status update along with the photo. Once you hit upload, the photo/video is posted to your wall. If you want to say anything about the photo you’ve just posted, you have to post it as a comment!

The point of this blog post isn’t to offer us a solution, because I don’t think there is one, at least within Facebook’s iPad app. It’s just let others who are dealing with this issue know that you’re not alone.

Here are a few other blogs and discussion dealing with features of the Facebook iPad app. If anyone finds any solutions or new issues to discuss, let me know!

Related Facebook iPad app blogs:
Having trouble commenting on Facebook when using your wireless keyboard? Here’s a solution that works for some.

The simple trick to using the Facebook iPad app to update your organization’s page as an admin.

Using a wireless iPad keyboard to comment on Facebook

A week ago I blogged about how to comment on Facebook using the new iPad app. It seemed that a lot of people who found my blog were searching for a solution to this, which I thought was odd because it’s a pretty easy thing to do. Well, thank you to reader Leyla, for clarifying what she thinks so many people are actually looking for: how to comment on Facebook using the new iPad app using a wireless keyboard! A-ha.

When using a wireless keyboard with an iPad, ,”For some reason the ‘Send’ box just doesn’t appear when you’re in the app,” Leyla commented, and unfortunately she’s right. And from what I can tell, there’s no way to fix it.

The only way I can post a comment when using my wireless keyboard is to pull up the iPad on-screen keyboard. I hope that most wireless keyboards have the same functions: I pull up the on-screen keyboard by pressing the function (Fn) button, then the number 6. (Or whichever number button on your keyboard has an illustration of a keyboard on it.)

When I’m using just the wireless keyboard, there’s no send button in the comment box. See below. And when you hit enter, it just moves your cursor to the next line.

But when I pull up the on-screen keyboard, it appears. See, there it is:

How to comment with the new Facebook iPad app

NOTE on Aug. 9, 2012: Please check out A bazillion people are having more trouble with Facebook iPad app for the latest blog post. Comment there with the issues you’re having!

A lot of the search phrases people have used recently that have led them to my blog include “how to comment using facebook on ipad?,” “can’t comment facebook ipad” and “facebook ipad won’t comment,” among other variations. (They’re all above.)

I haven’t had this problem, but clearly others have! In case it’s just a matter of folks not being familiar enough with the app to find it, here’s a four-picture tutorial that I hope helps. Happy commenting!

Begin at your newsfeed: