Any resource on any URL, internal or external, can be inserted into Update and Article Posts and General and Help Pages on any MainCross system and will be converted into rich embeds or media cards, depending on the source.
Update Posts - The conversion is automatic. The first URL that you drop in will get converted into the rich embed or media card, while subsequent links will simply linkify.
Article Posts and Pages - Content from any source can be inserted into the article post via the Toolbar buttons for Video, Tweet, Audio or the unified Rich Media Card button.
All open the same popup.
Just paste the URL of the source - post, video, audio, etc - into the popup window and the editor will do the rest. No need to muck around with embed codes and short codes and what have we.
Rich embeds from an internal source#
The following internal content (ie from the same domain) when inserted will turn into rich embeds:
- Products - The product embed is fully interactable and allow one to directly purchase or add the product to cart.
See examples:
- Update Post with purchasable product - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/another-product-embed-with-variants-kli2mjmuayvw2du
- Update Post with non purchasable product - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/embedded-product-with-enquiry-89ckidy5mdtl2hu
- Article Post with purchasable product - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/an-article-with-an-embedded-product-0b3i1epq7sm0rytr
Note that almost anything from the internal network can be inserted as rich embeds on Featured Pages.
Rich embeds from external supported services#
The following content from many external (ie from another domain) supported services when inserted will turn into rich embeds:
- Video embeds
- Youtube - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/thats-a-yt-video-demo-for-link-preview-0b3i1epq7soran4
- Vimeo - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/and-what-about-vimeo-you-ask-well-here-you-go-2m0in049yf050gy
- Tiktok - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/hello-tiktok-you-new-rascal-embed-a-tt-vid-w1k1qa62ltnbcf1
- Twitch
- etc
- Audio embeds
- Spotify - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/say-hello-to-spotify-podcasts-ayn85evkc6ow3x6
- Soundcloud - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/soundcloud-embed-g327omgtajrpplo
- Posts
- X (Twitter) - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/another-integration-is-here-tweets-can-now-be-embedded-in-short-posts-duo0kyz2lf4etrf
- Instagram reel - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/embed-an-instagram-reel-yx8cnd2uog3yd1m
- Instagram post - https://demo1.maincross.org/p/hello-instagram-you-old-rascal-mdb3it6wv3h7wzi
See all examples: https://demo1.maincross.org/hashtags/EmbedAnything
Media cards from an internal source#
All other internal content (ie from the same domain) is converted into clickable media cards which takes one to the source. Clicking on the media card opens up the link in the same window. The preview is generated from the meta data sent by the URL's page.
See an example: https://demo1.maincross.org/p/just-an-internal-link-test-x59b8fs8hd94uhq
Media cards from external sources or unsupported services#
All other content from an external (ie from another domain) source or unsupported service is converted into clickable media cards which takes one to the source. Clicking on the media card opens up the link in an external window. The preview is generated from the meta data sent by the URL's page.
See an example: https://demo1.maincross.org/p/what-if-you-want-to-have-multiple-links-in-the-post-go-for-it-0b3i1epq7shr0yu
To maintain integrity of the original source, the preview contents are not changed in any way before displaying.
Low quality warning#
When an Update post contains a rich embed or media card without sufficient text, the system shows a 'Tip for better posting" as follows:
Our research has found the following issues when such posts:
- Lack of original content - audience is attracted to content that is original, in your own voice, presents your commentary on top of the third party linked source, or at the very least pulls together quotes and important information from the linked source. Why should an audience reward you if you haven't taken the effort?
- Low (or no) user engagement - given the plethora of sources from where 3rd party content reaches us, an audience does not find much value in coming to a Network Site, just to click and jump off to an offsite link.
- Spammy and low SEO value - A sea of such link posts (like a link farm) is seen to be spammy, both by the audience and by search engines.
We deprecated the Link Post type for precisely such reasons.
Please be aware that low quality posts are not included in digest mails.
