README.md

Social Media Searches

Introduction

This is a small Chrome Extension that allows users to search Social Media sites from a single action. It is not a screen scraper. No data is collected, and only extension level preferences are saved. It is meant to save people time when searching by a person's online handle or email address. However, the extension makes to distinction on the text it searches on.

Installation & Building a Pack

• Clone this repo to your favorite folder.
• Go to your Chrome Browser and type: chrome://extensions.
• On the top right corner toggle Developer Mode to on.
• For development purposes, you can simply Load Unpacked.
• Click Pack Extension to build.
• Browse folder where your build exist
• Chrome will create 2 files:
  • A .crx file, which is the packed extension
  • A .pem file, which is Signed Certificate

Adding Packed Extension

This is the easy-peasy part. Simply go back to chrome://extensions page:

- Drag and Drop the `.crx` file. 
- Confirm extension installation.  
- Confirm.
- ???
- Profit. 

How to use:

Once installed as an extension you will see a new icon on your extensions row on the top right corner of your browser. Click on the new icon that appears and you will see a simple list of options that you can toggle. Toggle which social media sites you want to do a search on, then click Apply.

Your preferences will be saved. If you want all of them, then simply click Reset. All of them will be turned back on again (which is the default).

Note: It uses Chrome.storage.sync to save preferences

Finally, on whatever Website you are viewing, simply highlight a word (or words) and right-click.

• You will see a Context Menu that says: Search Social Media Sites.

And by magic, you will immediately see a new tab for each social media site you choose.

Sites

Currently, only these sites are built into the extension:

1. Facebook
2. Google
3. Instagram
4. Linkedin
5. Twitter

Special Note:

For Social Media sites like Facebook and Linkedin, you MUST be logged-in. Otherwise you will be automatically re-directed to their login page.

Adding more sites:

Users cannot add more sites through the Options page, or the Popup.

For Developers: Go to background.js and add another social media site at line 7.

// Here
let socialMediaKeys = {
   "google": true,
   "linkedin": true,
   "facebook": true,
   "instagram": true,
   "twitter": true
};

You will also need to add const for the site's URL. Line 16-22, like so:

const facebookURL = 'https://www.facebook.com/search/people/?q=';
const googleURL = 'http://www.google.com/search?q=';
const linkedinURL = 'https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/all/?keywords=';
const linkedinGlobalFlag = '&origin=GLOBAL_SEARCH_HEADER';
const twitterURL = 'https://twitter.com/search?q=';
const twitterLang = '&src=typd&lang=en';
const instagramURL = 'https://web.stagram.com/search?query=';

Also update the switch statement on line: 82-88.

Note how some sites require a suffix, make sure you have a the correct path!

Finally, go to popup.js and add the same thing you did on background.js. (I know, I know... Bad coding) Line 7:

let socialMediaKeys = {
    "google": true,
    "linkedin": true,
    "facebook": true,
    "instagram": true,
    "twitter": true
};

MAKE SURE THEY MATCH UP!