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I have privacy settings set to Only Me (until I figure this out) for 'Who can see my future posts' and 'Who can see posts I'm tagged in', and when I post on an article it does not appear anywhere on my pages; timeline, newsfeed, history, etc. (not sure where it should appear anymore tbh). Before I share with more than me, I want to make sure it is configured right.

Regardless of this, I thought all posts to public pages would show up on one of my pages.

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When I comment on a post it does not display on my timeline or News Feed

Regardless of this, I thought all posts to public pages would show up on one of my pages.

There are two aspects here: posts and comments.

Posts to public pages, for example, if you post on the public page of your local cinema, will be publicly viewable by anyone with access to that page (which is everyone) regardless of your privacy settings. Posts you're tagged in and things that you post on your timeline are currently only visible to you, but otherwise would be shown to all of your friends in their News Feeds and on your own timeline.

Think of it this way: when you post on your own timeline (which can be done by visiting your profile page, or through your News Feed) it is like writing in your diary. Your privacy settings decide who can read your diary, so that might be just you, or all of your friends, or all of the public. You can control the privacy settings of your own diary.

If you post on your friend's timeline, you are writing in their diary. Everyone who they have allowed access to their diary can see what you posted.

If you post on a public page, it is like writing on their billboard. The public can all see it.

Moving on to comments: If you comment on a friend's page or a public page's post, that comment is visible to anyone who could view the original post, but it won't show up on your timeline, because the original post wasn't written in your 'diary'.

If you want to see the history of all your actions, you can visit your activity log via your profile page, it should be at the bottom right of your cover photo.

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  • Thank you for your answer. I'll accept it as soon as I understand a few more things: I have a friend and whenever they comment on a page/link/article it appears on my news feed along with the article/link... 1. Are comments and their articles/links already appearing on my friends' news feeds? (is there a way to check?) 2. Which settings control/affect this behavior? 3. When I comment on an article am I 'tagged' in that post or does it apply to photos/others only? 4. Is it possible for my timeline to show articles and comments I've posted on when friends visit my page?
    – user58446
    Apr 24, 2018 at 8:31
  • No problem. 1) This depends. If the article they are commenting on is on a public page, on a person's timeline who has their profile set to public view, or a friend who you have in common, then it will show up on your newsfeed, because, essentially, they are commenting on an entry in a diary that you have permission to read.
    – Sophie
    Apr 24, 2018 at 10:54
  • 1b) When you comment on a post or article on a public page, anyone can see it, it is like sticking a postit note on the billboard. When you comment on a friend's post, if their privacy settings only let their friends see, then all of their friends can see your comment. If they have settings so that public can see, anyone can see your comment. It will be showing up on the newsfeed of anyone who has access to it.
    – Sophie
    Apr 24, 2018 at 12:51
  • 2) Who can see the comments on a post is controlled by who has access to the post. 3) If you're tagged in the post, the post and you approve the post to your timeline, everyone who you are friends with is added to the list of people who get to see the post. It will show up on the newsfeed of your friends regardless of whether you comment on it, but if you comment on it, it might make it appear all of a sudden even if the post is quite old, because there's been recent activity on it.
    – Sophie
    Apr 24, 2018 at 12:53
  • 4) Your timeline will only show what you have posted on your page or what has been posted on your page. Let's say, you comment on BBC News' video. That post is still on BBC news' page, and not on your page, so your friends will find out that you've commented because it will show up as activity in their newsfeed, but you haven't coppied that post itself to your timeline. What you could do is share the post from the newspage onto your own page and add your commentary to the post. This would be like photographing a billboard and pasting the photo into your diary.
    – Sophie
    Apr 24, 2018 at 12:57

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