A few weeks ago I saw another blogger on Facebook pose the question that went something like: would you want a copy of your Facebook ‘life’ captured and then print and bound to enjoy offline. The answer in my head? Heck Yeah !?! You mean order a copy of all my status updates, photos, memes, jokes and captions from Facebook and bind them into a tidy little book? Uh, yes please. To think of all the would be digital memories just hovering above aimlessly in a cloud, now printed in a book I can enjoy. Can we do this for my blog too I wondered?
Formally known as Likebooks, My Social Book is not a new kid on the block. In 2012 they won an award for innovation which garnished them lots of press and glowing reviews. I poked around and read through some comments and someone had mentioned a 20% coupon floating around. For 20% off I thought I can at least try a book. The process ended up being so simple and the site ?? so well laid out and fast, my one book order quickly turned into 5.
Here’s how it works.
1. To begin they will ask you to link to your Facebook account so they can access your Facebook activity (timeline posts, cover photos, comments) you have an option to link up to Instagram to automatically pull those photos as well.
Choose Subject & Period
Drag the slider to adjust the dates or enter in specific dates using the calendar, Your estimate book cost appears on the right.
Next choose Content that you want to appear. I chose to include everything, but then opted to uncheck a few.
Connect to Instagram if you want those photos to appear. You can toggle having comments* on/off, doing so did not affect my page count.
*I believe these are only comments on Facebook that are made when you share your instagram on your timeline.
It is IMPORTANT to note that if you leave both Instagram (icon) and Instagram Photos boxes checked you will have DUPLICATE PHOTOS.
I unchecked “Instagram Photos” and it removed the duplicate photos successfully.
You can choose how many comments to include, I limited mine to 5, otherwise the book was cost prohibitive due to size.
At the beginning of the book you can choose what will appear in the printed mosaic. Note: friends photos appear current, if you are printing 2009 those profile pics are not from 2009, which I kinda a bummer but I get it.
Chose a cover – you can go Classic. All photos are editable and you may change to any photo that has been previously uploaded to Facebook.
Choose your accent color and/or a cover color. You have a choice of soft or hardcover with prices reflecting your changes.
When you are done with your changes you can review the proof (up to 36 pages).
Prices start at 13.90, average is around 60.00. I just made one as a gift and it spanned 2008-2014 for 65.00. My books were just over $200 for all five years at 20% off. I’m happy to have invested that amount and get the photos and memorable moments I shared on to paper, better to pass down a book then an external hard drive.
Books SHIP FREE (at least is is right now according to their site no code needed) I received all 5 books within a week of ordering. They were securely packaged and arrived in perfect condition.
I am so happy with my books. They are like yearbooks for adults. My kids and I got a kick out of going through the years and seeing how much I OVERSHARED. Gah. It is striking to see how things went from all status updates (2009 is pages of text only) like “can’t sleep has jet lag” to no updates only photos and memes … apparently I like memes. Especially this this one.
Can you tell the year I joined Instagram?
After receiving my books I reached out to the good folks at My Social Book to gush over their product and inquire about a discount code for the holidays and they said YES! So here you go… use code MSB30SPECIAL to receive 30% off your entire order. Quantities are limited to the first 300 orders, so save me one would ya I will need it come January 1st!
You can also make books for family and friends you are connected to on facebook for gifts. Special tip about making books for friends: if you don’t know when the person joined FB chose beginning at 2007 when FB started and then when you look at the proof you can see on the first page the first post, then adjust the date accordingly so the dates printed on the front and spine matches whats inside.
Thank you My Social Book for the coupon code, this is not a sponsored post just a personal review of a product I tried, really liked and thought you would too. I was not compensated for any material shared.
For more information you can watch their YouTube video or visit their Facebook Page.
I’m totally digging it! I’ve thought about it over the years but never pulled the trigger.
I might give it a go in 2015 🙂
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
my sister who smartly is not overly entangled in social media l-o-v-e-d hers.
Thank you for sharing about this great book & the coupon! Saved us $87 towards a gift for a great friend.
You’re welcome Cassie! you just reminded me I need to order my 2014 book!
I have been wondering if this type of product was out there, a possibility! Just a few days before you wrote this article my wife unexpectedly passed away. And I have thought it would be great to put our Facebook into print especially during the last year or two. Thanks for the article! It gave me a little more confidence to try it.
I’m so sorry for your loss Ron. I think you would enjoy the book. When I did one for my sister knowing it would span some extremely difficult (to put it mildly) periods of her life I was nervous it would be too much but she really treasures it, the good and the bad. I mean it happened, theres no rewriting the past but it helps us move forward I think. Best of luck to you.
I was wondering if I can create a book using only pictures from “my albums” I don’t want my everyday posts. I just want to make one book per album. For example, if I have a book titled “Vacation 2013” and I JUST want those pictures with comments and likes- can I do that?
I think there may be better platforms like Blurb books – I did a small square with my instagrams and was REALLY happy with it.
http://www.blurb.com/facebook-books
are you the Lindsey G. From Sacramento ( Rio HS)?
Thanks for the great info. I think I will probably order now.
Bryan Jersky’s Mom
Received my book today. Absolutely love it. So glad I did it. Had forgotten great comments by friends.
I’m wondering, if I have a personal FB page, and a public blog page, and a private business page, will all my content be printed? All three are managed by my same email account. I’d love to be able to print JUST my public blog.
You can do a “fan page” book – you chose any page that you have previously liked, I chose my blog and it worked – see here: https://www.mysocialbook.com/index.php?page=create_book#/step1/
Also there are a few 25% off coupons if you Google it.
try this code: ADDB8AF9F
I have been trying to make one but it checks albums outside the timeline, rechecks albums I have already unchecked, and stops to rebuild the book each time I add or subtract anything. I have tried 3 times to make a book but have bailed because of these issues, so I am going to look for another option. I did do books for 2015 and 2013 and loved them both, and did not have those issues, but for the last few months I haven’t been able to build one. I have tried IE, Chrome and Edge with the same result.
That sounds frustrating. I would have done the same, tried using a different browser and dumping the cache as well. I didn’t have any issues myself with ,y 2015 book – did you try contacting them ?
I was wondering if it’s possible just to do pictures from a group I run?
Good question – did you try posting that on their Facebook page?