Set up Your Mac to Integrate With Facebook

Access to social networks including Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) was built into Mac’s OS X Mountain Lion and later. You have to enable the connection before you can use it. Here's how.

1. From the Finder, click System Preferences in the dock, or select System Preferences from the Apple menu.

2. Select Internet Accounts (or Mail, Contacts & Calendars in older OS X versions).

3. When the Internet Accounts preference pane opens, click Facebook on the right side of the pane.

4. Enter your Facebook username and password, and click Next.

5. An information sheet drops down, explaining what happens when you sign in to Facebook from your Mac. If you agree, click Sign in.

These actions take place:

• Your list of Facebook friends is added to your Mac's Contacts app and kept in sync with Facebook.
• Facebook events are added to your Calendar app.
• You'll be able to post status updates to Facebook from any Mac app that supports this capability. These include Safari, the Notifications Center, Photos, and any app that includes the Share button or icon.
• Apps on your Mac can access your Facebook account with your permission.

Contacts and Facebook

When you enable Facebook integration, your Facebook friends are automatically added to your Mac's Contacts app. If you want to include all of your Facebook friends in the Contacts app, you don't need to do anything. Facebook will update Contacts with a Facebook group that includes all of your Facebook friends.

If you would rather not include your Facebook friends in the Contacts app, you can turn off the Facebook friends syncing option and remove the newly created Facebook group from the Contacts app.

There are two ways to control Facebook and Contacts integration: from within the Internet Accounts preference pane and from the Contacts app's preferences.

Internet Accounts Method

1. Launch System Preferences and select the Internet Accounts preference pane (or the Mail, Contacts & Calendars preference pane in older versions of OS X.)

2. On the left side of the preference pane, select the Facebook icon. The right side of the pane displays apps that are syncing with Facebook. Remove the checkmark from the Contacts entry.

Contacts Preference Pane Method

1. Launch Contacts by clicking the icon in the dock or by locating it in the Applications folder.

2. Select Preferences from the Contacts menu.

3. Click the Accounts tab.

4. In the list of accounts, select Facebook.

5. Remove the checkmark from Enable this account.

Posting to Facebook

The Facebook integration feature allows you to post from any app or service that includes the Share button. You can also post from the Notifications Center.

For example, Safari has a Share button located to the right of the URL/search bar. It looks like a rectangle with an arrow emerging from its center.

1. In Safari, navigate to a website you would want to share with others on Facebook.

2. Click the Share button, and Safari will display a list of services you can share with. Select Facebook from the list.

3. Safari displays a thumbnail version of the current webpage, along with a field where you can write a note about what you're sharing. Enter your text, and click Post.

Your message and a link to the webpage is sent to your Facebook page.