Drupal: Facebook-style Micropublisher Preview

I worked on the module Facebook-style Micropublisher (FBSMP) for Drupal, this summer as part of the Google Summer of Code program mentored by Isaac Sukin. This module lets users publish content (links, images, videos and documents) in a stream, along with their Facebook-style Statuses (like on Facebook, or Twitter). When I say that I worked on it as part of GSoC, it would be only partly true. I started working on it around March 2010, when I was contacted by Thomas to create a Drupal module for his site which would imitate the link share feature from Facebook, Google Buzz. I wrote the small module Facebook-style Links, which worked quite well but it was then this occurred to me, “why not create a module which can publish any content, which is extensible to publish any kind of content like images, links, videos, documents, audio, etc”.

Today, I am happy to say that Drupal now has a complete Micropublisher which can be used to create any kind of microblogging platform such as Facebook, Google Buzz, Twitter, etc. I will be posting the first release of the module soon, but before here is the small list of features and a few screenshots.

Among a lot of other features, Facebook-style Micropublisher :

  1. Publish links, photos, videos, documents (ppt, doc, pptx, odt, etc) out of the box.
  2. Attaches content using AJAX which keeps everything smooth.
  3. Extensible to publish any kind of content.
  4. Integration with a lot of other modules, such as:
    • Activity, Heartbeat: Create a stream of your statuses, or log messages or status posts/delete.
    • Emfield/Emvideo: Post links directly from YouTube, Google Video, Dailymotion, and others.
    • LightBox2: Create slideshows for your photos and videos (from youtube, etc or directly posted).
    • SlideShare.net: Post documents such pptx, ppt, docs and pdf.
  5. Extensive API (good news for developers) and theme overrides (never forget the designers).

I am posting a few screenshots of the module, which will soon have a stable release. Till then, you can download the development build and play with it (which will be actually the stable release in a few days) and report issues if any or just enjoy the module.

(Click on the images to see full view in a ThickBox)

22 thoughts on “Drupal: Facebook-style Micropublisher Preview

    1. Nitin Post author

      Thanks Roger. Let me know when you do that, I would be interested to see the outcome and might include it in the showcase of the websites using this module.

      Reply
      1. Roger Doiron

        Will do, Nitin. Thomas is the one redoing our site so it should be a nice showcase both for FBSMP and Facebook-style Statuses.

        Hey, while I have you, are you considering adding “ask a question” functionality* to FBSMP at some point like Facebook is doing? It would certainly be interesting for our community and I suspect others. Right now, we’re using the FAQ module for that.

        *http://www.facebook.com/questions/

        Reply
        1. Nitin Post author

          I do not think that the requested functionality fits into the scope of Facebook-style Micropublisher. Although it would be a nice addition for FBSS, and I would be the first person interested in it and ready with any help you might need.

          Thanks.

          Reply
  1. Jamie

    Nitin,

    This module is very well done and I can’t wait to test it. When do you think you will be releasing the beta version? I’d like to be sure we’re using a fairly stable release. I see you’ve been rolling out updates quite frequently, great work.

    I signed up on LondonFuse.ca so I could really get a sense of how it works. How did LondonFuse integrate the stream of updates to the user page? Is that a custom view? I’m trying to get a sense of the line where FBSMP module ends and other modules begin. I will know more once I install the beta and looking forward to the documentation you’re working on now.

    Thanks for all your hard work on this module. I’m sure it will be in great demand.

    Jamie

    Reply
    1. Nitin Post author

      The module is quite stable as it is being tested regularly at LondonFuse. I was to release a stable release yesterday but a major bug (http://http://drupal.org/node/983210) was logged with less used Video plugin due to which I had to delay the release. I am hopeful that it will be resolved soon and along with, it will give some time for other not so important but good to have issues (http://drupal.org/node/965854).

      You should contact Thomas, linked in the post, to know more about the views he is using for the user profile status stream.

      Thanks,

      Reply
  2. onigoetz

    Hi !

    I’m quite new to Drupal,

    I used to work a little bit with it a long time ago,

    Now I need to do something for a client : Do that we can share links like on facebook in the comments. can your module do that ?

    Thanks in advance for your answer

    Reply
    1. Nitin Post author

      Do you want to share links in the statuses or the statuses comments? FBSMP attaches content (links, photos, videos, documents) to the statuses and not to the FBSSC comments.

      Reply
  3. Pingback: Facebook Share button and Like button stats do not reflect what we may perceive | Technical flirtings

  4. corrado izzo

    Hi Nittin

    This is a greta module you built there, i am evaluating the various possibilities on how to build a community implementing facebook like features like you developed here.
    I am a total Newbie to Drupal but know of its power. What else (which modules) would one need to run a website implementing your module ?

    all the best
    Corrado Izzo

    Reply
    1. Nitin Post author

      Thanks, You need Facebook-style Statuses (FBSS) and Chaos Tools to install this module. Although, you would want to install other modules which FBSMP integrates with, such as Activity (to log the user activity on the site), Rules (to send out emails, notifications, etc), ImageAPI (to process uploaded images), AppBar (for notifications), etc depending upon the requirements of your site.

      Reply
  5. corrado izzo

    Hi Nitin

    Thank you very much for your answer. What are your thoughts on combining wordpress and drupal ?

    what the app we want to build actually wants to accomplish is the following:

    Internal Messaging
    Create Groups
    Wall – like in facebook
    Status – like on facebook
    blogs (comment etc)

    i need a simple first version and that’s why i thought about a wordpress multisite install with the gigya socialize tools. Sorry this might seem strange to you but i am not a programmer/developer and just wanting to find out what the best and most convenient solution is, in order to be able to scale it as things progress.

    all the best
    corrado izzo

    Reply
    1. Nitin Post author

      I am not sure why you want to mix wordpress and drupal, because you can easily implement all the features you are looking for in drupal easily. See the modules, OG, Activity, Rules, FBSS, FBSMP, Blog, Views for all these features

      Reply
  6. Syamsul

    This module looks great! But I notice that it uploads documents into a Slideshare account. Is there a way to have the documents attached directly to the status post without going to slideshare?

    Reply
    1. Nitin Post author

      It is definitely possible with a custom plugin which is not available but won’t be difficult to write, although then the flash preview won’t be available yet you can link the file for download or other purposes. You can look (or hire someone to look) into the photo plugin which can serve as a tutorial and the library functions in

      fbsmp/libraries/file.inc

      can further ease the writing of this plugin.

      Hope to see this soon.

      Reply
  7. Jah

    Hello

    I have created a site using your module however i want on the feeds page to only display feeds for user friends similar to facebbok on and out all users is there and option to do that.

    Regards

    Jah

    Reply
    1. Nitin Post author

      Hi Arpit,

      Nice work. Why don’t you create an issue in the FBSMP queue and upload this for review. It may go out in the next release for FBSMP.

      Thanks,
      Nitin

      Reply

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