How to update the content that you share on social networks and refresh the cache

1. Introduction.

When participants share the URL of your campaign on social networks, the content (title, description, and image), which you have previously configured in the 'Go viral' section of the campaign editor, is displayed.

However, if you modify any of these messages (title, text, or image), once the campaign has been published, you will notice that it still appears with the previous customization. This happens because of the cache.

How does the cache work? When users share the same link at different points in time, social networks try to “economize” the information they receive to display the preview. In this way, they save the content they have previously read, the first time the URL was published. 

At Cool Tabs, we debug the cache every time the image and text to be shared are changed. Even so, if the changes you have made to the image or text displayed when sharing are still not shown, there is an easy solution to make the changes you have made appear: clear the cache.

Below, we explain how to do it in each social network.

2. Step by step.

2.1. Delete cache on Facebook.

On Facebook, you can use the tool that the social network itself has to debug shared content errors. In this link, you will find a more detailed explanation of how the Facebook cache works.

The use of this tool is easy.

1) Copy the campaign URL.

2) Go to Facebook Crawler: https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/

3) Paste the campaign URL and click on 'Debug'.

4) Once updated, the information shown on Facebook when you share the link will be displayed as follows. Click on the 'Scrape again' button. 

If you make changes again, enter the URL and click on scrape again.

2.2. Delete cache on Twitter.

Twitter has removed the Card Validator preview functionality, which was used to check how content would be displayed. Although it is no longer possible to use the Twitter debugger, we recommend that whenever you make changes to campaign messages, you check the preview from the Tweet Composer or Tweet Creator.

You can also check it from a free Card Validator.

1) Access the validator.

2) Paste the campaign URL and click on 'Check preview'.

2.3. Delete cache on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn stores the link preview for 7 days. To clear the cache and view the changes you have made, use LinkedIn's Post Inspector tool.

1) Go to Post Inspector.

2) Paste the campaign URL and click on 'Inspect'.

3. Other specifications.

If you have any questions, contact us at help@cool-tabs.com.

4. Related content

How to customize messages shared on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks.