So, how do you fix the problem of multiple posts when you’re using Hootsuite to post a single post with multiple images? The short answer is, you can’t.

It seems the Facebook API (the gadget that let’s developers/3rd party businesses connect to Facebook) doesn’t currently allow for outside sources to submit multiple images in one post – at least according to Hootsuite. And boy are people calling for that capability. Their solution is to make multiple posts using the same text – one for each image. It’s fine that they want to handle it this way given there is no alternative, but a simple heads up error notice would have been preferable to finding out later in the day. Currently the system sets you up to spam your audience.

See the gallery below. In Hootsuite these were 1 post with two images showcasing the desktop and mobile versions of CNN’s website for a learning tutorial. Instead two posts with the same text were distributed:

Normally I would say just go ahead and use Facebook’s own scheduling system when you need to make multiple image posts, but that comes with a lot of problems. The whole reason folks use Hootsuite is to be able to schedule things in advance, and to have the convenience of using one service for multiple platforms. Adding Facebook back into the mix eliminates the point of having one service that can easily be monitored by multiple people. Moreover, Facebook scheduling does NOT work for Facebook groups – only pages and profiles. So if you are managing any groups, you’re stuck with single image posts unless you want to post in real time.

Probably the worst part about this is that it’s been this way since 2014. That’s eons in the digital world, and our fingers are crossed it gets pushed to the development forefront soon.