Since May, Facebook has been rolling out 'New Facebook', a massive redesign of its desktop experience (with the old design now named 'Classic Facebook'). It has a new dark mode, bigger type and more space to breathe. But the changes aren't purely aesthetic - there are also some changes to functionality which may not be immediately apparent.
One such change relates to sharing a post from one page that you manage to another that you also manage. Admittedly not everyone will be managing multiple Facebook pages. But if, for example, you are a publisher with several brands in the same sector, this could be a common scenario.
Here you can see what happens in Classic Facebook when you 'Share to a Page' (to do this, click Share under the post and then Share to a Page). Note the original post consisted of a link to an article ('How to view your Nintendo Switch Wish List online'), plus some message text above this ("Not what I normally write about..."):
When I share this to another page, by default it only shares the article - but I can also tick 'Include Original Post' to include the message text as well. At this stage I can also add some new message text of my own in the 'Say something about this...' field (this appears on the shared version only, not the original obviously).
What's the point? Well, the option to 'Include Original Post' is great for setting up micro-dialogues between pages. Perhaps page 1 has a particular take on a current news story, but page 2 disagrees with this. Perhaps page 1 makes a joke, and page 2 runs with it - and so on. It's a good way of cross-promoting pages while highlighting any similarities or differences in editorial opinion.
I know what you're thinking - this all sounds very contrived. But it doesn't have to be: the two pages could well be managed by different editorial or marketing staff members at the same company, who are spontaneously interacting with each other.
Now took a look at what happens in New Facebook when you 'Share to a Page' with the very same post:
The option to 'Include Original Post' has disappeared! It is only possible to share the article, but not the message text that was posted alongside it. This reduces the opportunity for dialogue between two pages in the same stable.
For the time being, it is still possible to switch between New Facebook and Classic Facebook (click on the Account arrow in the top right and you'll see the option in the drop-down menu). So if you need to 'Include Original Post', you could swap back to Classic just to do the share. But I am sure that Classic Facebook won't be available forever.
Incidentally, all of this only applies to sharing posts that include a link. Posts that include an image always include the message text, on both Classic Facebook and New Facebook. Here's what that looks like on New Facebook (I had to zoom out a little to capture all the different elements of this without Facebook introducing a scroll bar):
Buy me a coffee
So frustrating! Thanks for calling attention to this unfortunate change.
What you can do is create a new post and paste in the url of the original post with a link.
I am sharing a Youtube video that I post on my page. I went and got the URL of the page post. When I put it, the post got rid of my youtube post and tried just to share the page.
Can be done but the old way allowed you to edit the original post and the changes propagated to any shares.
Nope. Doesn't work.
Ignore my last suggestion! It appeared to work in the preview, but once posted, the original post text is stripped out! Why, Facebook, why?
I copied the link, pasted it in a new post, and then I saw the drop down arrow with the menu option to include original post. I just now did this on new Facebook. It worked.
bare with me , the link? it is just a posting with no link...big fundraising project and the layout is crucial...HELP...i tried so many extensions to revert back to old and none worked
So... that's it? One of the best features of sharing stuff on FB is now just gone? I don't understand why these companies have to periodically make these sweeping changes to the interface. So annoying.
And worse, "The classic Facebook will no longer be available starting in September"...
Thanks for bringing this up. It's a huge loss even for people who don't manage multiple pages. It removes meaningful content and context. What is FB thinking?!
I'm just trying to share a post from a FB page (not my page) to my personal wall, mainly wanting to share because of all the hilarious comments people had made on the original FB post. I've tried sharing it everyway I can think of - phone, computer, sharing, linking, etc. and can't get the comments/reactions from the original post to be included. Went to classic Facebook (guess they aren't cutting it off 9/1/2020) and the box for including the original post is there and I checked it, but it didn't do anything. Arghhh. This isn't a situation where the… Read more »
Glad to see it's not just me. I've been going crazy all week trying to find how to include the original post in the new Facebook. Very frustrating.
Thanks for writing about this so clearly so I can see it's a 'known issue' and not just me! I hope they rectify this soon - I will look for somewhere on FB to report it.
They have now taken away the option of switching to Classic Facebook. Are there any workarounds you “Include Original Post”?
I'm still able to switch to Classic Facebook, but only when I have chosen to 'Manage Page' or 'Manage Group'. This gives me an option like this: "If you'd like, you can switch to the classic Facebook.com for 48 hours to manage your Page."
If you don't have a page or group that you manage, then you might not be able to do this... and I suspect the option won't be available for long anyway.
It also implies to me that there are some key group and page management features that aren't yet available in New Facebook.
James, thanks for this. It's the only work around still available as far as I can work out. Sooo annoying by Facebook. every week since the switch to New Facebook I've submitted it as an issue - hope others are doing the same!
Yes, I manage several pages and am still being given the option to switch back to classic FB for 48 hours.I have been doing this every few days now. But here's another thing. The new Facebook eliminates the "Our Story" section of the business page that appears on the right side when logged in to Facebook on a computer. (It still is visible on the mobile version of FB.) I was in contact with a FB rep about this and she confirmed this saying, "I believe this section was deprecated when we moved to the new version of the Facebook… Read more »
It soesn't share you original post with a video and there is no option to share original post... I am Sharing from my personal page to t a page I manage and it only shres whatever I say while posting... the original post and the video doesn't appear
Looks like you can still share with original post. When you click share and select "Public" the option to share the original post isn't there. If you click "Share To Newsfeed" the option is there and you can make the post public. Possibly just an oversight in the implementation?
The feature was back for a while (I used it as recently as a few days ago) but in the past couple of days it seems to have vanished again. ??
Yep. Cannot use Classic anymore. Unless anyone knows a hack? I did just manage to post a share with the " keep original post" check box but it only worked the once and I have no idea how it happened!
Nearly a year later and I'm still having this same issue ... when I try to share something from my friends pages, or they try to share from me, the original post commentary isn't transferred to the share ... have to do it manually every time I get a notification that someone shares from me ... and those notifications aren't 100% either ... I keep saying it over and again: #NewFacebookSucks.
I HATE the "new Facebook"! At least the part of it that doesn't share the original post. I've always enjoyed seeing how long ago a memory was - and now they've taken that away and we have no choice about it. That is seriously messed up. It is OUR Facebook and we should have the option to have it posted as the original memory or without. I suppose the powers that be at FB did not give a thought as to when memories are shared of people that have passed on - to not include the original date makes it… Read more »
I use/used ‘include original post’ to direct traffic to my page. Guess FB is now charging as only way is thru buying a ‘Boost’.
trick:
1- posted content without link & thumb.
2- share the post
3- edit the content to put link with thumb.
hooray
This is a brilliant hack! I tried it and it worked. Thank you for sharing. Just want to elaborate that all 3 steps are to be performed on the original post from the Page we manage.
Brilliant! works!
Can you please elaborate in detail how you did this?? Thanks so much in advance!
THANK YOU!
Glad I can see I was not the only one pulling my hair out trying to figure this out. Still doesn't seem to be any kind of workaround as of Dec 2021. Sucks since it's a pretty good way to get personal friends engaged with my page (as opposed to sending out cold page invites that everyone ignores).
Turning notifications on for this thread in case anyone figures something out.....
This youtube video seems to have a good suggestion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpEpBatSL9E
ACTUALLY... update... I can't actually get it to work.... so nevermind.
This is useful not only for Page-to-Page shares, but for ordinary users too. When I Share something from \Memories, I want that to include my original post - not just the link itself. Otherwise anything useful or amusing I may have said is omitted.
I need to know. Like with the tiny homes posting…I can’t send it to myself! I find this very annoying…so does my friend who has to mail it back. Solition?
How can we get this changed back? Just because a post includes a link does not mean that link represents the message that needs to be shared. We post community information posts that other local community Facebook pages wish to share (for the text), but all they get is the link. This totally defeats the purpose of sharing content. It should share all content by default, with the option to share just the linked information if that is desired, not the other way around.
I have a news page and frequently share posts from other pages (not groups) - I can no longer do this. Share to a page is gone for me. I can only share between my pages. Argh!
I can't even share at all. I have a personal page and business pages, and I like to bring things from personal to business since that's a good way to introduce people to my business. It's always pertinent to the page. But I cannot share anything at this point, only to my feed and a friend. I'm at my wit's end...At least I know it's not only me.
You have to select "Share to feed" not "Share post" (the naming makes no sense).
It stopped working with personal profiles, too - first on the mobile app, now also on the desktop version. It's so annoying and I can't find any information on this change anywhere. Apparently it isn't just my case as I checked it using different profiles and different browsers. Has anyone else experienced the same problem recently? I'm really frustrated as I've been using this function for years.
In 2023 I did not find the option to switch back to the classic
Such a nonsensical change. Good one Zucc
i have a company Facebook account and use Canva for designing each post. My problem is when i go to share on my personal account, the only thing that shows up is my company link. It does not show the original add i designed in Canva. Any help would be appreciated