No bug Second set of og tags

Hi all,  I don't know if anyone here has experienced this problem or can help me with it but I'd appreciate any help I can get.  I recently started having a inconsistent problem where articles shared to Facebook will have the correct article image, but a different article title and description.  I purchased och Social in an effort to resolve this problem.  Unfortunately it did not.  I use Shack Open Graph from Joomla Shack as my Open Graph vendor, and they have been unable or unwilling to help me with this problem.  I'm wondering if och Open Graft can resolve this issue.   As you can see by the page source below there re two sets of og tags.  The first set pointing to the correct shared article and the second set showing a different title and description.  I have no idea why this started happening or how to resolve it.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you. <meta property="fb:app_id" content="325108440541924"/><meta property="og:title" content="Chicken Skewer Kebabs"/><meta property="og:type" content="article"/><meta property="og:url" content=" www.meetmeworld.net/index.php/crafts-and...babs&catid=184"/> www.meetmeworld.net/images/users/Lorie/6...3840658105_n_1.jpg"/> * additional title tag  www.meetmeworld.net/index.php/crafts-and...cken&catid=184"/> * additional description tag    www.meetmeworld.net/images/users/Lorie/S...6-04-08_121803.png"/>

Good morning Tom,
ochSocials will not solve this as ochSocials only sets sharing buttons, not og: metatags.
The issue you are having is that there are two extensions on your site that independently set og:tags for the content.
1. is the Shack plugin
2. this is what you need to find out and disable

so what I would normally do is scan the source code of your site for any code setting these tags. that will then give me a clue as to what extension or template is setting the metatags, but that is not possible when you cannot have access to the terminal.

So the way forward here is to start browsing plugin (system and content plugins) settings, extensions configuration and template settings for anything og: metatag related and then turning that off.

I ran into this for a customer who was using a helixultimate template: that template comes with a system plugin that sets the tags (and these cannot be turned off via settings: so we had to add one line of code to the system plugin file)

are you by any chance using a helix / helix utlimate template?

Thank you. I've done this and found that my JomSocial had a sharing option. I turned it on originally to try and fix the problem. I turned it back off but unfortunately it didn't help. What strikes me as weird is that just started happening. I know that I have installed many updates from multiple vendors. I hope you don't mind an additional question. I've tested by turning off Shack Open Graph which removes all the og: tags. Enabling it adds the tags back, including the sometimes duplicate title and description tags. This is why I was wondering if the och Open Graph plugin may be a better choice. Any ideas?

By the way. I don't think I'm using a Helix template. I'm using JomSocial and their Socialize template. I haven't seen anything that says Helix, but I have to admit that I don't always know what I'm doing. Thanks for your help.

Tom Skipton wrote:

I've tested by turning off Shack Open Graph which removes all the og: tags. Enabling it adds the tags back, including the sometimes duplicate title and description tags.

If this is the case then the issue is with Shack as it should always provide only one set of tags.

This is why I was wondering if the och Open Graph plugin may be a better choice. Any ideas?

I'm biased my advise would be to try and get Shack to work correct. If you give up on their support, and are 100% sure it is a bug in their extension, then ochOpenGraph would be an option, but if the issue is not in Shack then likely the second set of tags will be added again, even when you have ochOpenGraph.

difference is that my support is 'guaranteed' and if we cannot fix it then there is always the option of getting your money back.

This is so weird, but I think I fixed it.  I first disabled Shack Open Graph, and ochSocials. No buttons in the article content, and no og: tags in the view source. I then enabled just the ochSocial plugin. After config the share buttons are available. No og: tags are displayed in the view source, but here's the trick. The Facbook Sharing Debugger shows the whole list of og: tags.  og:urlhttps://www.meetmeworld.net/index.php/crafts-and-hobbies/cooking/main-dish-articles?view=article&id=896%3Aasian-inspired-scallion-pockets&catid=184og:titleAsian‑inspired Scallion Pocketsog:descriptionAsian‑inspired Scallion Pockets are flaky on the outside, tender inside, and packed with savory pork layers.og:imagehttps://www.meetmeworld.net/images/users/Lorie/648495086_122270743538186408_2566406300288019141_n.jpgog:image:alt 
When I click Facebook share button i see the Create Post pop-up,  After clicking post, the article is shared without the image.    So even though they're not displayed in the source, it looks like ochSocial it's own set of og: tags.  I re-enable the  Shack Open Graph plugin and disabled everything but the image.  I re-shared the article and the image is displayed. 
I think this may be the trick.  Thanks for your help.  I hope this share may help anyone else who faces the dame problem. 

Hi Tom,
first of: ochSocials does not add og: tags. I know... I'm the developer
second: please know that facebook on first share of a page it does the following:

1. visit the shared page
2. look in the page source for og: tags. When found use them
3. when not found the og:tags distill the needed information from the page itself: title, description, image
4. cache this information on the facebook servers, so that on a subsequent share there is no need to do an 'expensive' lookup of this information

Third: facebook has minimum size requirements for images, so even if you tell facebook via the og:image tag what image to use, if that image is not of high enough quality, then facebook will not use it but instead find one itself on the page and if it can't find a suitable one, just share without image.

the facebook sharing debugger can be used to clean the facebook cache and to force it to revisit the page: what you are currently seeing in facebook debugger is likely coming from cache from when facebook visited the site when there where og: tags in the source. That explains why facebook shows e.g. the og;title and og:image when you disabled that on your site.

So always use the facebook sharing debugger and clean the facebook cache for that page.

 

Thanks for your help. I have to tell you. If I had hair I'd be pulling it out. Your right the problem isn't fixed. I disabled ochSocial, and Shack Open Graph and tried the Facbook Sharing Debugger again and it still found og: tags, even though I cannot see them in the source. What is so frustrating is that the sharing to facebook and X was working fine. I don't know if it was a Joomla or extension update, or a Facebook updated that caused it to break. It's too bad the tags don't have a tag or something that says how they were generated.

Hi Tom,
I understand and feel your frustration.
If I could have back-end access to the site, I could have a go with it to see if I can find what is causing this: do a quick analysis.
Difficult to trouble shoot only with the front-end.
Let me know if this is an option for you.
regards,
Ruud (also with little hair left )

I think I have the problem resolved this time, and it has nothing to do with modules. It appears that the problem was caused by Joomla's Progress caching. When ever an article was viewed or shared it's og: tags were cached. When a second article was viewed or shared a new set of og: tags were added, but the first was not removed. This showed up as two og: title tags, and two og: description tags. The image for the new article would be correct but the title and description would be using the tags from the previous article. Thanks for your help in trying to resolve this issue. I do have another unrelated question for you. I do not find the Instagram button in the configuration list. Is it available?