Can You Share an Album on Facebook?

Facebook users group their photos specific to one event or topic in albums in the Photos section. Albums make it easy for friends and family to see all your vacation photos, for example, or check out pictures specific to one of your hobbies. You can share an album on your Facebook profile, but you need to take a couple of extra steps to share it with others.

If you regularly use Facebook, you're probably already aware of the steps to take to share a single or even multiple photos on your profile. You go to your profile and in the box that reads, "What's on your mind?" select Photo/Video and then go to the location of the photos on your computer. Hold down the Control button – for Mac users, it's Command – to select multiple photos at one time and upload them to Facebook. When you post, all the photos display to your followers, depending on your privacy settings.

If you want to organize a specific group of photos into an album, go to the Photos section of your Facebook profile. Select the option entitled Create Album and choose the photos for the album, using the Control or Command key to select multiple images on your computer. A box pops up that shows the images you chose on the right and options on the left. You can name your album, add a description, choose a location where the photos were taken, tag friends and pick a date for the album.

Tagging your friends when you post the album is the easiest way to make sure they see the pictures. If you don't want to tag your friends as being in the photos, you can tag them in comments or send them a message to check out the images. There isn't a share button on your Facebook photo albums, so you can't just share the entire album on a friend's newsfeed with one click.

That doesn't mean you can't share the album at all. First, under the album title, make sure the privacy settings allow friends to see the album. Then, copy the link from the browser window. You can post that link in a message or on a friend's newsfeed to provide access to the album.

Use this option sparingly, though. Your friends may not want your vacation photos on their profiles, especially if they aren't in them. If they are in them, make sure they're OK with you posting the album where all their friends can see them. Tagging may be a better option, as they can untag themselves if they don't want the exposure. Some Facebook users take advantage of a setting that prevents tags from going live until they approve them.

When you share albums on Facebook, it's important to consider who can see them. Only the person who created the album can manage its privacy settings, which means the responsibility falls on you. To tweak your privacy settings, click the down arrow under the album title. There you can set it to Public, Friends, Friends Except, Specified Friends, Only Me or confine it to a Custom list of friends you specify.

When you tag friends or share the link on their newsfeeds, their privacy settings come into play. If you set the album to Friends Only, the post expands to their friends, as well as yours.