Field notes
Playbooks, teardowns and the occasional argument — everything we have learned helping creators grow across every major platform.
Instagram removed the embed button from the web interface, but the embed itself still works. Here is how to build the code from a post URL, in both forms.
Every platform publishes embed code and most hide it. Here is where each one keeps it, when to use an iframe instead of a script, and what to do about consent.
A shortened link tells you nothing about its destination. Here is how to expand a short URL safely, read the redirect chain, and spot the hop that breaks tracking.
Seven platforms let you build a short link from a URL. Five only issue one from their own share sheet. Everything else calling itself a shortener is a redirector.
YouTube has its own short domain, youtu.be. Here is how to build one from any link shape, and why copying the timestamp across usually breaks it.
Every platform treats a link differently. Here is what happens to a social media link once you post it, and the four decisions worth making first.
Open Graph tags decide what every platform shows when your link is shared. Here is the minimum set, the optional ones, and the mistakes that break cards.
Facebook caches what it read the first time. Here is why a fixed page still shows the old image, and the ways to force a re-scrape.
Board names are read by Pinterest and inherited by every Pin on them. Here is how to name and structure boards so they help rather than dilute.
Rich Pins fail for a short list of reasons, nearly all of them markup on your own page. Here is the order to check them in.
A Pinterest Pin description is not shown in feeds - it is read by Pinterest for matching. That changes how it should be written entirely.
Pinterest SEO works like search, not social. Keywords in the title, description, board name and destination all count. Here is where to put them.