Answers.Body: <p>The change in link is caused by <a href="https://book.civicrm.org/user/current/email/reports-and-analysis/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">tracking click-throughs</a> (another setting in CiviMail).  When CiviMail is set to track click-throughs, it creates a 're-direct' link on your own server so if someone clicks your link in your mailing, Civi knows that it was actually clicked.  If the link went directly to your Facebook page, Civi would have no way of knowing that the link was used.</p>
  
  <p>As for the white screen and error that comes up when you click the link, see <a href="https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/7008/email-links-not-working-date-timezone-function/7015#7015">email links not working - date.timezone function</a> and <a href="https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/3569/civimail-when-track-click-throughs-is-enabled-links-result-in-a-white-screen">CiviMail - when Track Click Throughs is enabled, links result in a white screen with warnings</a> for how to correct it.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-07-03T15:25:56.653Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-07-03T16:23:19.270Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2017-04-13T12:53:13.167Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Allen Hutchison
Body: <p>In Civimail we edited one of the inbuilt mail templates. One of the tips is to change the links for the social media icons. We right click on that icon and click on insert link. We put our correct link to our facebook page and save</p>
  
  <p>The link shows. However when sending a test email and clicking on the facebook link, it sends the user to this link: <a href="https://crm.arpra.org.au/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=8&amp;qid=10" rel="nofollow">https://crm.arpra.org.au/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=8&amp;qid=10</a></p>
  
  <p>this is not the link we pasted into the facebook icon. There seems to be very little instruction on this in the user guide. Any clues?</p>
  
Tags: <civimail>
Title: Social Media Links
ThreadText: # Social Media Links
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2016-07-03)
  
  In Civimail we edited one of the inbuilt mail templates. One of the tips is to change the links for the social media icons. We right click on that icon and click on insert link. We put our correct link to our facebook page and save
  
  The link shows. However when sending a test email and clicking on the facebook link, it sends the user to this link: <https://crm.arpra.org.au/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=8&qid=10>
  
  this is not the link we pasted into the facebook icon. There seems to be very little instruction on this in the user guide. Any clues?
  
  **Tags:** civimail
  
  
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  ## 1 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2016-07-03. Score: 3 | Accepted answer
  
  The change in link is caused by [tracking click-throughs](https://book.civicrm.org/user/current/email/reports-and-analysis/) (another setting in CiviMail). When CiviMail is set to track click-throughs, it creates a 're-direct' link on your own server so if someone clicks your link in your mailing, Civi knows that it was actually clicked. If the link went directly to your Facebook page, Civi would have no way of knowing that the link was used.
  
  As for the white screen and error that comes up when you click the link, see [email links not working - date.timezone function](https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/7008/email-links-not-working-date-timezone-function/7015#7015) and [CiviMail - when Track Click Throughs is enabled, links result in a white screen with warnings](https://civicrm.stackexchange.com/questions/3569/civimail-when-track-click-throughs-is-enabled-links-result-in-a-white-screen) for how to correct it.
  
  
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