Sharing with other websites and applications

Facebook Platform (or simply Platform) refers to the way we help you share your information with the games, applications, and websites you and your friends use. Facebook Platform also lets you bring your friends with you, so you can connect with them off of Facebook. In these two ways, Facebook Platform helps you make your experiences on the web more personalized and social.

When you go to a game or application, or connect with a website using Facebook Platform, we give the game, application, or website (sometimes referred to as just "Applications" or "Apps") your User ID, as well your friends' User IDs (or your friend list).

Your friend list helps the application make your experience more social because it lets you find your friends on that application. Your User ID helps the application personalize your experience because it can connect your account on that application with your Facebook account, and it can access your public information. This includes the information you choose to make public, as well as information that is always publicly available. If the application needs additional information, it will have to ask you for specific permission.

The Apps you use setting lets you control the applications you use. You can see the permissions you have given these applications, as well as the last time an application accessed your information. You can also remove applications you no longer want, or turn off all Platform applications. When you turn all Platform applications off, your User ID is no longer given to applications, even when your friends use those applications. But you will no longer be able to use any games, applications or websites through Facebook.

Just like when you share information by email or elsewhere on the web, information you share on Facebook can be re-shared. This means that if you share something on Facebook, anyone who can see it can share it with others, including the games, applications, and websites they use.

Your friends and the other people you share information with often want to share your information with applications to make their experiences on those application more personalized and social. For example, one of your friends might want to use a music application that allows them to see what their friends are listening to. To get the full benefit of that application, your friend would want to give the application her friend list - which includes your User ID - so the application knows which of her friends is also using it. Your friend might also want to share the music you "like" on Facebook. If you have made that information public, then the application can access it just like anyone else. But if you've shared your likes with just your friends, the application could ask your friend for permission to share them.

You can control most of the information other people can share with applications using your Apps and Websites settings. But these controls do not let you limit access to your public information and friend list.

Facebook Platform also lets you log into other applications and websites using your Facebook account. When you log in using Facebook, we give the site your User ID, but we do not share your email address or password with that website.

Social plugins are buttons, boxes, and stories (such as the Like button) that other websites can use to present Facebook content to you and create more social and personal experiences for you. While you view these buttons, boxes, and stories on other sites, the content comes directly from Facebook.

If you make something public using a plugin, such as posting a public comment on a newspaper's website, then that website can access your comment (along with your User ID) just like everyone else. Learn more.

Instant personalization is a way for Facebook to help partner sites (such as Bing and Rotten Tomatoes) create a more personalized and social experience than a social plugin can offer. When you visit a site using instant personalization, it will know some information about you and your friends the moment you arrive. This is because instant personalization sites can access your User ID, your friend list, and your public information.

The first time you visit an instant personalization site, you will see a notification letting you know that the site has partnered with Facebook to provide a personalized experience.

If you decide that you do not want to experience instant personalization for all partner sites, you can disable instant personalization.

Instant personalization partners sometimes use an email hash process to see if any of their users are on Facebook and get those users' User IDs. This process is similar to searching for someone on Facebook using an email address, except in this case the email addresses are encrypted so no actual email addresses are exchanged. The partner is also contractually required not to use your User ID for any purpose (other than associating it with your account) until you or your friends visit the site.

When you visit an instant personalization site, we provide the site with your User ID and your friend list (as well as your age range, locale, and gender). The site can then connect your account on that site with your friends' accounts to make the site instantly social. The site can also access public information associated with any of the User IDs it receives, which it can use to make the site instantly personalized. For example, if the site is a music site, it can access your music interests to suggest songs you may like, and access your friends' music interests to let you know what they are listening to. Of course it can only access your or your friends' music interests if they are public. If the site wants any additional information, it will have to get your specific permission.

Facebook Pages are public pages. Companies use Pages to share information about their products. Celebrities use Pages to talk about their latest projects. And communities use pages to discuss topics of interest, everything from baseball to the opera.

Because Pages are public, information you share with a Page is public information. This means, for example, that if you post a comment on a Page, that comment can be used by the Page owner off of Facebook, and anyone can see it. Learn more.

When you "like" a Page, you create a connection to that Page. That connection is added to your profile and your friends may see it in their News Feeds. You may also receive updates from the Page in your News Feed and your messages. You can remove the Pages you've "liked" from your profile.

Some Pages contain content that comes directly from the Page owner. Page owners can do this through online plugins, such as an iframe, and it works just like the games and other applications you use through Facebook. Because this content comes directly from the Page owner, that Page may be able to collect information about you, just like any website.

Your Public Search setting controls whether people who enter your name on a public search engine may see your public profile (including in sponsored results). You can find your Public Search setting on the Apps and Websites page. You can preview your public profile.