I work for a college and I’m trying to make an app that will show information to alumni about other Facebook users who have also graduated from this school. It’s intended as a tool to help alumni connect with each other.
The problem is, as far as I am aware, none of this information is public. So, unless you’re already friends with those people, the Facebook information isn’t really relevant. For example, unless I’m missing something, I don’t see a way for people to search for other alumni from a particular school who live in a particular area from an app (i.e., not on the Facebook website).
Does anyone know if this is true or not? Does anyone know if there is a security setting to allow your college/university to access private information about you that the general public can’t?
You are correct that this information is not generally public. So unless a user allows your application you are not going to be able to get this data. Some users will have the information set to public, but not many. You can ask your users to give you the “user_education_history” extended permission and the “friends_education_history” this will allow you to see the info you need. Beyond that there is no way to get this.