Connectors
==========

* [Home](help)

Connectors allow you to connect with external social networks and services. Connectors are only required for posting to existing accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and StatusNet. There is also a connector for accessing your email INBOX.

If the following network connectors are installed on your system, select the following links to visit the appropriate settings page and configure them for your account:

* [Facebook](/settings/addon)
* [Twitter](/settings/addon)
* [StatusNet](/settings/addon)
* [Email](/settings)

Instructions For Connecting To People On Specific Services
==========================================================

**Friendika**


You may connect by providing your Identity Address on the 'Connect' page of any Friendika member. You may also put their Identity Address into the Connect box on your [Contacts](contacts) page. 

**Identi.ca/StatusNet/GNU-Social**

These are described as the "federated social web" or OStatus contacts. 

Please note that there are **no** privacy provisions on the OStatus network. Any message which is delivered to **any** OStatus member is visible to anybody in the world and will negate any privacy settings that you have in effect. These messages will also turn up in public searches. 

Since OStatus communications do not use authentication, if you select the profile privacy option to hide your profile and messages from unknown viewers, OStatus members will **not** be able to receive your communications. 

To connect with an OStatus member insert their profile URL or Identity address into the Connect box on your [Contacts](contacts) page.

The StatusNet connector may be used if you wish posts to appear on an OStatus site using an existing OStatus account. 

It is not necessary to do this, as you may 'follow' OStatus members from Friendika and they may follow you (by placing their own Identity Address into your 'Connect' page).

**Blogger, Wordpress, RSS feeds, arbitrary web pages**

Put the URL into the Connect box on your [Contacts](contacts) page. You will not be able to reply to these contacts. 

This will allow you to _connect_ with millions of pages on the internet. All that we require to do this is that the page use a discoverable feed using either the RSS or Atom syndication format, and which provides an author name and a site image in a form which we can extract. 


**Twitter**

To follow a Twitter member, put the URL of the Twitter member's main page into the Connect box on your [Contacts](contacts) page. To reply, you must have the Twitter connector installed, and reply using your own status editor. Begin the message with @twitterperson replacing with the Twitter username.

**Diaspora**

To follow a Diaspora member, put either the URL or the pod address (Identity Address) of the Diaspora member into the Connect box on your [Contacts](contacts) page. It is not currently possible to reply to Diaspora members. This will be provided in a future release (once the Diaspora communication protocols stabilise and are published). 

**Email**

Configure the email connector from your [Settings](settings) page. Once this has been done, you may enter an email addres to connect with using the Connect box on your [Contacts](contacts) page. They must be the sender of a message which is currently in your INBOX for the connect to succeed. You may include email contacts in private conversations.

**Facebook**

The Facebook connector is a plugin/addon which allows you to interact with friends on Facebook from within Friendika. If enabled, your Facebook friend list will be imported, and you will see and be able to respond to Facebook posts. Facebook members may also be added to private conversation groups. You will not be able to connect with individual Facebook accounts - but will have your entire friend list imported and updated if new friends are added. 

Assuming the Facebook plugin/addon has been installed on your system, it can be enabled by going to your [Plugin Settings](settings/addon) page, and then select "Facebook Connector Settings" on that page. This will only appear if the Facebook plugin/addon has been installed. Follow the instruction to install or remove the Facebook connector.

You may also choose whether your public postings are posted to Facebook by default. You may toggle this setting at any time from the Permissions settings of the status post editor (click the lock icon). This setting has no effect on private conversations - which will always be delivered to Facebook friends who are included in the permissions.  

(Note: At this time, Facebook contacts will not be able to view any private photos. This will be resolved in a future release. Facebook contacts may however see any public photos you have uploaded.)

