---
title: Add New Social Links to Author Profiles (Pro)
description: "This feature requires the Pro version of the PublishPress Authors plugin. This guide shows how to add a new field using [PublishPress Authors Pro](https://publishpress.com/links/authors). We will show you how to add new social link to [author profiles](https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/mapping-users-to-author-profiles/). This example we'll…"
url: "https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/add-social-links-to-author-profiles/"
updated: "2025-06-30"
category: PublishPress Authors / Author Fields
---

# Add New Social Links to Author Profiles (Pro)

This feature requires the Pro version of the PublishPress Authors plugin.

This guide shows how to add a new field using [PublishPress Authors Pro](https://publishpress.com/links/authors).

We will show you how to add new social link to [author profiles](https://publishpress.com/knowledge-base/mapping-users-to-author-profiles/). This example we'll use is a field for the "Mastodon" social network.

To get started, we're going to add some new social icons to [PublishPress Authors](https://publishpress.com/links/authors).

- Go to Authors > Settings > Advanced.
- Check the "Font Awesome icons" box. This will load Font Awesome icons for use in [Author Boxes](https://publishpress.com/links/author-box).

Now we can add our new social field:

- Go to "Authors" then "Author Fields" in your WordPress admin menu.
- Click "New Author Field".
- Create your new field for [social links](https://publishpress.com/links/social-links). In the image below, I'm using the "Link" field type and selecting "Yes, this is a Social Profile".
- Click "Publish".

![Adding a new social field](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/add-mastodon-1024x608.png)
New Author Field

- Go to "Author Profile" and enter a URL for your social link. We will use this to test our new field.

![Creating a new social profile link in PublishPress Authors](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/enter-social-url-1024x437.png)

- Go to "Authors", then "[Author Boxes](https://publishpress.com/links/author-box)".
- Edit the layout you want to add [social links](https://publishpress.com/links/social-links) to. In the example, below I'll use the "Boxed" layout.

![Editing Author Fields in PublishPress Authors](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/boxed-layout-1024x408.jpg)
Author Layouts

- Go to the "Author Fields" tab.
- Check the box to customize your new field.

![Mastodon customize field](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/mastodon-customize-1024x538.png)

You will immediately see the link to your social profile in the preview at the top of the screen:

![New social profile link in PublishPress Authors](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mastodon-link.png)

Now you can modify this link to make it more attractive.

- Go to [FontAwesome.com](https://fontawesome.com) and search for the best icon for your profile.
- In this example, I'll use [this Mastodon icon](https://fontawesome.com/icons/mastodon?s=&f=brands).
- Enter the HTML code for the icon into the "Display Icon" field, as in this screenshot below.
- I've also changed the "Display" setting to be simply "Field Icon".

![Field settings for Author Fields](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/mastodon-icon-added-1024x947.png)

- Finally, I'd recommend choosing "link" for the "HTML Tag" field.

![New Mastodon field](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/html-link-field-1024x388.png)

This will now complete the process and turn your icon into an active link. You may want to change the color settings for the field to match your site design:

![New Mastodon social links](https://publishpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/new-field-added-1024x559.png)