How do my facebook friends see the events I'm attending?
June 2, 2010 5:52 AM Subscribe
How do I set my privacy settings on facebook so my friends can see the events I'm going to?
I'm a big fan of tracking down shows from bands I like via facebook, and I want to make sure my friends know which shows I'm going to. However, they can't see any of the events I'm attending.
When I click the events tab in facebook, I see about a dozen events I've rsvp'd maybe, and 3 that say I'm attending. In a seperate browser where my girlfriend is logged in, when I click the events tab, and then the friends events subheading, I see none of the things on my event list.
I'm presuming this is because of some privacy setting I've selected, but I've tried making the events application privacy less secure (from friends only to friends of friends) and it hasn't seemed to make a difference. So how do I set up facebook so that my facebook friends can see the events I'm going to?
I'm a big fan of tracking down shows from bands I like via facebook, and I want to make sure my friends know which shows I'm going to. However, they can't see any of the events I'm attending.
When I click the events tab in facebook, I see about a dozen events I've rsvp'd maybe, and 3 that say I'm attending. In a seperate browser where my girlfriend is logged in, when I click the events tab, and then the friends events subheading, I see none of the things on my event list.
I'm presuming this is because of some privacy setting I've selected, but I've tried making the events application privacy less secure (from friends only to friends of friends) and it hasn't seemed to make a difference. So how do I set up facebook so that my facebook friends can see the events I'm going to?
A person creating an event on facebook has only two options: It can either be public (visible to the entire internet) and then anyone can RSVP, or invite others to this event. Or it can be visible only to people on the guest list. So, you may be invited to someone else's event that is viewable only by the guest list, so no, people wouldn't be able to see what you're attending, no matter what you do.
Your choices when creating an event are "visible to the entire internet" or "visible to this list i create by clicking on/typing in each individual person you want to invite".
It's a really clunky system (and I think bad system). There is no way to set up an event visible to "All friends" or "friends of friends", or visible to networks, or visible to any group other than an individually-selected guest list (or the entire world).
posted by crush-onastick at 10:21 AM on June 2, 2010
Your choices when creating an event are "visible to the entire internet" or "visible to this list i create by clicking on/typing in each individual person you want to invite".
It's a really clunky system (and I think bad system). There is no way to set up an event visible to "All friends" or "friends of friends", or visible to networks, or visible to any group other than an individually-selected guest list (or the entire world).
posted by crush-onastick at 10:21 AM on June 2, 2010
Response by poster: The events appear to be public. For instance, the "WBEZ social", and "She & Him - Chicago, IL @ Millennium Park (Downtown Sound Series)" events I have marked as attending. I don't believe they show up in other friends listings of 'friend's events'.
posted by garlic at 11:28 AM on June 2, 2010
posted by garlic at 11:28 AM on June 2, 2010
Maybe it's a setting your girlfriend has? I'm pretty sure I changed something at some point so I no longer see events from other people because there were so many and I didn't care (most were from people in different countries). I have no idea what it was though, the interface has changed a couple of times since then.
Try setting up a second facebook account with a fake name, friend it from your main account and use that to look at what shows up. Alternatively poke around your girlfriend's settings, but a fresh account with everything set at default is kind of easier at this point given how complex the settings have been and how often things change. Plus it's kind of fun to see how many random strangers try to friend your non-existent person.
posted by shelleycat at 4:41 PM on June 2, 2010
Try setting up a second facebook account with a fake name, friend it from your main account and use that to look at what shows up. Alternatively poke around your girlfriend's settings, but a fresh account with everything set at default is kind of easier at this point given how complex the settings have been and how often things change. Plus it's kind of fun to see how many random strangers try to friend your non-existent person.
posted by shelleycat at 4:41 PM on June 2, 2010
Response by poster: So, looking at her feed again, she does see the events our common friends are attending, but she doesn't see the events I'm attending, like the above mentioned WBEZ social. To me, this implies that it's a setting I have, not one she has.
Shelleycat, any idea what setting you chose to hide events?
It looks like my test account (george orwell, contact dlsfacebook@hotmail.com) also can't see my events. Initially that account couldn't even find me in search, so I think I've set my privacy settings pretty fierce. But I'm still not sure how to set my privacy settings so friends can see what events I'm attending.
posted by garlic at 6:41 PM on June 2, 2010
Shelleycat, any idea what setting you chose to hide events?
It looks like my test account (george orwell, contact dlsfacebook@hotmail.com) also can't see my events. Initially that account couldn't even find me in search, so I think I've set my privacy settings pretty fierce. But I'm still not sure how to set my privacy settings so friends can see what events I'm attending.
posted by garlic at 6:41 PM on June 2, 2010
No, I'm sorry! I'm not even sure if it's still working, although I don't see any events listed currently (maybe none of my friends are going anywhere?). My privacy settings are all a bit of a mess now with the changes etc and I pretty much always changed stuff via trial and error anyway. I agree with you though, it sounds like your setting rather than hers so at least you're narrowing it down.
I found the new settings annoying in that you have a simplified list where you can change some stuff, but there are still all kinds of other settings affecting things which are now harder to get to. On the new privacy page there is a link at the bottom to application privacy which is different to the application pages (which also deal with privacy). Maybe you have something turned off there? There's a setting for games and applications and the events thing may be bundled in there somehow, which may over ride the individual setting for the event application.
posted by shelleycat at 7:01 PM on June 2, 2010
I found the new settings annoying in that you have a simplified list where you can change some stuff, but there are still all kinds of other settings affecting things which are now harder to get to. On the new privacy page there is a link at the bottom to application privacy which is different to the application pages (which also deal with privacy). Maybe you have something turned off there? There's a setting for games and applications and the events thing may be bundled in there somehow, which may over ride the individual setting for the event application.
posted by shelleycat at 7:01 PM on June 2, 2010
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posted by NoraReed at 9:08 AM on June 2, 2010