Last updated on October 29, 2021
Users of Buffer on Chrome are unable to post to social sites directly from web pages. Buffer says the problem will be fixed soon.
The popular social networking tool Buffer has been having trouble trouble working and playing well with Chrome-based browsers today. Specifically, users of the browser plugin for Chrome are unable to use the tool’s right-click function which allows them to post links to Tweeter, Linkedin, Facebook, and other social sights. The functionality has not been affected for those using Firefox.
The functionality has been down since at least shortly before 9 am Eastern Standard Time, which is when FOSS Force discovered the problem, which seems to affect all Chrome-based browsers, including Google Chrome, Vivaldi, and Brave. FOSS Force suspects but hasn’t been able to verify that other Chrome-based browsers such as Microsoft Edge and Chromium are also affected.
Typically, the context menu brought up by right-clicking anywhere on a web page will include the option to “Buffer this page” for those who have the browser extension installed, which if selected will bring up a screen for composing posts to all social networks the user has configured to work with the tool.
It appears that the problem has to do with a change made by Google to a browser API, but we’ve been unable to contact Buffer for a confirmation. However, at 8:52 am a FOSS Force writer contacted Buffer through a private message on Twitter and was told, “We’ve fixed this bug and we’ve submitted it to Google for approval. Once they approve it, we’ll get back to you and let you know that things are working properly again.”
According to Buffer’s website, in 2019 the company had more than 74,000 users, with over 32,000 of those being new users. Although the tool is used by many many enterprises for managing their social networking accounts, the mix between commercial and individuals users is not known.
We’re watching this situation and will let you know when full functionality is restored.
Update 10/29/2021 9:00 AM EST
We were notified at 3:21 am EST that the issue has been fixed. Our tests, however, indicate there are still issues with Buffer’s functionality. Right clicking and selecting “Buffer this page” does bring up a Buffer page and clicking “add to queue” does add the post to the schedule. However, afterwards the Buffer browser tab does not close and if another post is attempted a new browser tab is opened, meaning that users are left with having to close the browser tab after each post or else end up with a collection of Buffer tabs in their browser.
This seems to be how the extension is currently behaving in both Chrome-based browsers as well as in Firefox.
We have contacted Buffer about this issue and expect to hear back from them shortly. We will continue to update until full functionality has been restored.
Update 10/29/2021 10:00 PM EST
All functionality seems to have been returned to Buffer. We have tested the Buffer extension using Google Chrome, Firefox, Vivaldi, and Brave and found the extension to be functioning normally.
