Culture

How to stop or limit Spotify sharing on Facebook

You can stop Spotify from sharing on Facebook via Spotify's preferences, or you can limit who sees the songs you're listening to via Facebook's privacy settings.

Matt Elliott Senior Editor

Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.

Expertise Laptops, desktops, all-in-one PCs, streaming devices, streaming platforms

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Matt Elliott

Sept. 26, 2011 2:32 p.m. PT

2 min read

Now that Spotify and Facebook are BFFs, what you listen to on Spotify gets shared on Facebook. In fact, Spotify now requires all new users to sign up with their Facebook account. By default, the songs you listen to on Spotify show up on your wall and also in Facebook's new ticker. (Click here to find out how to kill the ticker.)

There are many reasons why you wouldn't want your Spotify activity broadcast on Facebook. Maybe you don't want to explain your love for NKOTB. Or why you were listening to "Dark Side of the Moon" at 3 a.m. last night. Or the reason behind your two-hour Barry White session last Thursday when you said you were at the office.

Personally, I don't care if my Facebook friends see what songs I'm listening to on Spotify; I'm just not arrogant enough to think they care. At least, not all of them. Thankfully, there is simple way to stop Spotify from sharing your listening habits on Facebook, and there is also a way to limit which friends see your Spotify habits.

In Spotify's preferences, make sure the above box is unchecked to stop sharing on Facebook. Matt Elliott/CNET

To stop Spotify altogether from sharing the songs you listen to on Facebook, open Spotify's preferences. Then uncheck the box labeled "Get personal recommendations by sending music you play to Facebook's Open Graph." That's it! Your Spotify activity will once again be private.

If you'd like to share music with select friends, open Facebook's Privacy Settings from the pull-down menu in the upper-right corner.

Next, click the Edit Settings link for Apps and Websites.

Find Spotify on the list of Apps you use and click on it. On the settings page for Spotify, scroll down until you see App activity privacy. You'll notice it's Public by default. Click on it and you can change it to Friends of Friends, Friends, or Customize.

Choose Customize and you can choose Specific People or Lists. From here, you can choose specific friends or groups to add to the list, and you can also hide other friends or groups from seeing your Spotify activity.

For more on Facebook's redesign, read Sharon Vaknin's post, Five things to know about the new Facebook.