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Share your YouTube video to Facebook with the correct thumbnail and description

Sharing a YouTube video to Facebook is easy, but sometimes Facebook uses an outdated thumbnail or description. Fortunately, you can fix that - or at least make it less likely to happen.

YouTube does not offer any way to automatically post your videos to your Facebook profile or page. Instead you can share the video - yours or anyone else's - from the video watch page or by directly posting the link on Facebook.

Share a YouTube video to Facebook on a desktop computer

You can share a video to Facebook or any of the major social media sites with just a few clicks.



1. Open the video watch page.

2. Below the video click the "Share" icon

3. Click the Facebook icon

4. A window will pop up that lets you write your post and select the post settings


5. Post

Video: How to share YouTube videos

Share a video link directly on Facebook

An alternative to using the YouTube "share" option is to paste a video link directly into a Facebook post.

When you do that, Facebook will automatically grab the YouTube video thumbnail and description.


Help ensure the correct thumbnail and description are displayed on Facebook

Sometimes when you share a YouTube video link,  Facebook uses an outdated thumbnail or description. How can you prevent that from happening?

Wait to share the video until you are sure it is:
  • fully processed
  • made public
  • the thumbnail is set on YouTube
  • the description are set on YouTube
If you change the thumbnail or description, outdated details may appear if you (or anyone else) shares the video before Facebook has updated its cache. So slow down and don't rush to post.

What can you do if Facebook is using outdated video details?

If you can't wait for Facebook to update it's cache, there are a few fixes you can try:
More information in the YouTube Help Center:  Wrong video description or thumbnail on Facebook

Related: Connect your YouTube channel to Twitter

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