Why isn't my social sharing image displaying on Facebook?

Store Design

Topic summary

Social sharing images from Shopify are not appearing correctly when links are shared on Facebook (and sometimes Twitter/X, Pinterest, LinkedIn, WhatsApp). Users report the homepage showing a blank or logo instead of the chosen image, and product links sometimes pull the default site image instead of the product image.

Primary causes and behavior highlighted: many themes have a Theme settings “Social sharing image” that overrides Online store > Preferences; password-protected stores prevent platforms from accessing product images; platforms cache metadata, so first shares may not render images until the crawler sees them. Facebook’s image size requirements can cause cropped or missing images.

Recommended actions: use Facebook Sharing Debugger to force a refresh; add the image in Online store > Themes > Customize > Theme settings > Social media (eg. Debut, Simple), not just Preferences; remove storefront password before testing product shares; ensure images meet Facebook’s specs; use LinkedIn Post Inspector for LinkedIn; contact third‑party theme developers (eg. Turbo by Out of the Sandbox) if issues persist; consider an app to set per‑product share images.

Outcomes: several users resolved it by using the debugger or privately sharing then waiting ~24–48 hours; others still see errors (fb:app_id missing, Curl error 61) or inconsistent behavior across platforms. The discussion remains open; screenshots were shared to illustrate issues.

Summarized with AI on January 4. AI used: gpt-5.
2

Hi, @kadamczyk !

Julie here from Shopify Support.

Which theme are you using? Some themes offer you the ability to choose a social media image for your online store directly through the theme editor in Online store > Theme > Customize > Theme settings. If your theme offers this option, then the social media image you choose in your theme settings will override any social sharing image settings from Online store > Preferences.

Do you see an option to add a social media sharing image there? If so, then you will need to add the social media image through the theme editor.

However, if your theme does not offer the option through the theme editor, then it sounds like you may need to use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to refresh the information that is saved for your page links. Typically, it will take Facebook a few days to update this information, but the Facebook Sharing Debugger should speed up the process.

I hope this helps. Feel free to respond here and let me know which theme you’re using and whether the Facebook Sharing Debugger does the trick.

3 Likes