diff --git a/core/server/data/meta/excerpt.js b/core/server/data/meta/excerpt.js
index 7effd7b22f..f6e31584bb 100644
--- a/core/server/data/meta/excerpt.js
+++ b/core/server/data/meta/excerpt.js
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 var downsize = require('downsize');
 
 function getExcerpt(html, truncateOptions) {
+    truncateOptions = truncateOptions || {};
     // Strip inline and bottom footnotes
     var excerpt = html.replace(/<a href="#fn.*?rel="footnote">.*?<\/a>/gi, '');
     excerpt = excerpt.replace(/<div class="footnotes"><ol>.*?<\/ol><\/div>/, '');
diff --git a/core/server/data/meta/index.js b/core/server/data/meta/index.js
index 8464c1046d..30327e680a 100644
--- a/core/server/data/meta/index.js
+++ b/core/server/data/meta/index.js
@@ -14,7 +14,8 @@ var config = require('../../config'),
     getModifiedDate = require('./modified_date'),
     getOgType = require('./og_type'),
     getStructuredData = require('./structured_data'),
-    getPostSchema = require('./schema');
+    getPostSchema = require('./schema'),
+    getExcerpt = require('./excerpt');
 
 function getMetaData(data, root) {
     var blog = config.theme, metaData;
@@ -37,6 +38,10 @@ function getMetaData(data, root) {
         blog: blog
     };
 
+    if (data.post && data.post.html) {
+        metaData.excerpt = getExcerpt(data.post.html, {words: 50});
+    }
+
     metaData.structuredData = getStructuredData(metaData);
     metaData.schema = getPostSchema(metaData, data);
 
diff --git a/core/server/data/meta/schema.js b/core/server/data/meta/schema.js
index ba59479537..4f59b90dd7 100644
--- a/core/server/data/meta/schema.js
+++ b/core/server/data/meta/schema.js
@@ -16,7 +16,11 @@ function trimSchema(schema) {
 }
 
 function getPostSchema(metaData, data) {
-    var schema = {
+    var description = metaData.metaDescription ? escapeExpression(metaData.metaDescription) :
+        (metaData.excerpt ? escapeExpression(metaData.excerpt) : null),
+        schema;
+
+    schema = {
         '@context': 'http://schema.org',
         '@type': 'Article',
         publisher: metaData.blog.title,
@@ -37,9 +41,7 @@ function getPostSchema(metaData, data) {
         image: metaData.coverImage,
         keywords: metaData.keywords && metaData.keywords.length > 0 ?
             metaData.keywords.join(', ') : null,
-        description: metaData.metaDescription ?
-        escapeExpression(metaData.metaDescription) :
-        null
+        description: description
     };
     schema.author = trimSchema(schema.author);
     return trimSchema(schema);
diff --git a/core/server/data/meta/structured_data.js b/core/server/data/meta/structured_data.js
index 6fd7b8cf4b..dfc6edbd94 100644
--- a/core/server/data/meta/structured_data.js
+++ b/core/server/data/meta/structured_data.js
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ function getStructuredData(metaData) {
         'og:site_name': metaData.blog.title,
         'og:type': metaData.ogType,
         'og:title': metaData.metaTitle,
-        'og:description': metaData.metaDescription,
+        'og:description': metaData.metaDescription || metaData.excerpt,
         'og:url': metaData.canonicalUrl,
         'og:image': metaData.coverImage,
         'article:published_time': metaData.publishedDate,
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ function getStructuredData(metaData) {
         'article:tag': metaData.keywords,
         'twitter:card': card,
         'twitter:title': metaData.metaTitle,
-        'twitter:description': metaData.metaDescription,
+        'twitter:description': metaData.metaDescription || metaData.excerpt,
         'twitter:url': metaData.canonicalUrl,
         'twitter:image:src': metaData.coverImage
     };
diff --git a/core/server/helpers/ghost_head.js b/core/server/helpers/ghost_head.js
index 3f09ebf901..bd098be0cb 100644
--- a/core/server/helpers/ghost_head.js
+++ b/core/server/helpers/ghost_head.js
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ var getMetaData = require('../data/meta'),
     escapeExpression = hbs.handlebars.Utils.escapeExpression,
     SafeString = hbs.handlebars.SafeString,
     _ = require('lodash'),
-    api = require('../api'),
     filters = require('../filters'),
     assetHelper = require('./asset'),
     config = require('../config'),
diff --git a/core/test/unit/server_helpers/ghost_head_spec.js b/core/test/unit/server_helpers/ghost_head_spec.js
index 49521614dd..e2efccba2f 100644
--- a/core/test/unit/server_helpers/ghost_head_spec.js
+++ b/core/test/unit/server_helpers/ghost_head_spec.js
@@ -595,6 +595,27 @@ describe('{{ghost_head}} helper', function () {
             }).catch(done);
         });
 
+        it('returns twitter and facebook descriptions if no meta description available', function (done) {
+            var post = {
+                title: 'Welcome to Ghost',
+                html: '<p>This is a short post</p>',
+                author: {
+                    name: 'Author name'
+                }
+            };
+
+            helpers.ghost_head.call(
+                {relativeUrl: '/post/', safeVersion: '0.3', context: ['post'], post: post},
+                {data: {root: {context: ['post']}}}
+            ).then(function (rendered) {
+                should.exist(rendered);
+                rendered.string.should.match(/<meta property="og:description" content="This is a short post" \/>/);
+                rendered.string.should.match(/<meta name="twitter:description" content="This is a short post" \/>/);
+
+                done();
+            }).catch(done);
+        });
+
         it('returns canonical URL', function (done) {
             helpers.ghost_head.call(
                 {safeVersion: '0.3', relativeUrl: '/about/', context: ['page']},