Facebook Events Scraper

Hi, thanks for reporting this, we will look into it and let you know what can be done!

Hi again, do you think you could specify what would be correct schedule info for you? E.g. the event could be in the output just once with more dates, or it could be there as a specific event each time it occurs within the specified period of time. Thank you, after that we will see if and how it can be implemented.

Hi and thanks for your reply.

Ideally I think that an array of dates and times would be excellent. e.g [ {"date":"2023-11-16","startTime:"13:00","endTime:"15:00"}, {"date":"2023-11-16","startTime:"19:00","endTime:"23:00"}, {"date":"2023-11-21","startTime:"19:00","endTime:"23:00"}, ] Even if the event is happening more than once on the same date, this format would accommodate that.

I am also including an example of an event that has other issues related to timing. This is an extract of the json we received from Apify

{ "url": "https://www.facebook.com/events/3488548004800777/", "id": "3488548004800777", "name": "Larnaca IT", "dateTimeSentence": "THU, NOV 16 AT 9:00 AM UTC+02 AND 6 MORE", "utcStartDate": "2023-04-20T15:00:00.000Z", "duration": "253 days" }

The dateTimeSentence shows the next occurance of the event. The date is correct but the time (9:00am UTC+2) is not correct. The correct time is 19:00.

utcStartDate shows the date/time of the first occurance of the event and it looks correct. Ideally we would like this to show the datetime of the next first occurance as it is shown of facebook page.

Actually if you visit the facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/3488548004800777/3574350219553888/ just under the title there is a list of dates. if you click on the "+33" link you will get a popup with all event dates. An array containng these would be great!

Also check out the duration field (253 days). This is also wrong.

Thank you very much for looking into these issues. I would be great if you can resolve them because our project relies on correct event scheduling information.

Many thanks again!

Alex

Hi Alex, thanks so much for a thorough description, I see what you mean. We will see what can be done about it and let you know!

Thank you very much for looking into this. I hope you will have good news for us soon.

Sure thing!

When will this be out of maintenance? We need it up and running again and its been quite some time.

Hi! Replaced old requests which caused API errors in loop without data, sample run: https://console.apify.com/view/runs/cyPGywFySB1k1Iw4q

any progress with the events taking place on multiple dates?

Hi!

• Added value hasChildEvents (true-false) to dataset items, following internal Facebook naming schedule always called "child events"
• When hasChildEvents: true child events details saved in dataset in shorter format as childEvents[]

Sample run https://console.apify.com/view/runs/B6VUlIcfaq7xx271K

Great work Alexey! Looks good with the sample you provided. The only issue I could see is the event duration shows as 169 days when it's actually 3 hours.

Alexey, really great improvement. Recurring events is a nightmare everywhere on the internet. I see your change reflected in my most recent run, but it doesn't catch everything. For some events that have a multi-day duration, hasChildEvens is false and the childEvents array is empty. I suspect this is just a reflection of the Facebook data, but I wanted to make sure you had the examples. These appear to be sequential dates, not weekly or some other interval.

Example events: https://www.facebook.com/events/741816374055807/ https://www.facebook.com/events/1012882040162164/ https://www.facebook.com/events/890538409322295/

A separate note: Since you're able to capture the end date and time for child events, could that be done for all events? I can calculate them if the duration field has an "hr" or "hr" and "min" value, but if the event is multi day it still has a fixed start and end time. This would also solve the problem of long duration events that appear to be recurring because of the duration value, but aren't. Think 5-week seminars with or without multiple starting dates.

Here's an example of the first: https://www.facebook.com/events/1012882040162164/ This is a 3 day event that starts at 7 AM on April 4 2024. We can calculate that from the utcStartDate. But it ends on April 6 at 5PM, which is not present in the data extracted.

{ "url": "https://www.facebook.com/events/1012882040162164/", "id": "1012882040162164", "name": "HVHS Spring Sale", "dateTimeSentence": "THU, APR 4 - APR 6", "utcStartDate": "2024-04-04T13:00:00.000Z", "imageUrl": "https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/370366677_720293736783548_6840111215001237687_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p235x165&_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=d8d9c5&_nc_ohc=GVSaPqeH-1IAX9X_iqF&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=00_AfCIrajx0_Dh0icS1BmNmFveMboSWB05oMUIwSpxxkq0nw&oe=65A30BA8", "imageCaption": "No photo description available.", "duration": "3 days", "description": "HUGE NEWS!!! We are moving the sale up a month!!! APRIL 4th - 6th, 2024. Schedule this in your calendar. It is going to be a great weekend. We will be posting horses soon. We have some great horses already!! We are very excited. Consignors - get with Van and Rowdy on your bios. We would like the consignments in by Halloween to properly market the horses. Concerns contact Rowdy or Van. ", "usersGoing": 11, "usersInterested": 157, "usersResponded": 168, "hasChildEvents": false, "location": { "url": "https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wasatch-County-Events-Center/165394650150064", "id": "165394650150064", "name": "Wasatch County Events Center", "contextualName": "Heber City, UT", "placeType": "PLACE", "latitude": 40.502331323175, "longitude": -111.429055749, "countryCode": "US", "streetAddress": "415 Southfield Rd", "city": "Heber City, UT" }, "ticketsInfo": null, "organizedBy": "Event by Heber Valley Horse Sales", "organizators": [ { "id": "100064087842237", "url": "https://www.facebook.com/HeberValleyHorseSale", "name": "Heber Valley Horse Sales", "isVerified": false } ], "eventType": "PUBLIC", "privacyInfo": "Public · Hosted by Heber Valley Horse Sales", "isPast": false, "isOnline": false, "paidContent": false, "isClassEvent": false, "isLiveAudioRoom": false, "isRemoteLearningClass": false, "isRemoteLearningCourse": false, "groupEventPinnedToFeatured": false, "hasRecordingAvailable": false, "discoveryCategories": [], "externalLinks": [], "childEvents": [] }

Hi! Thanks for detailed feedback, really helpful!

Revisions applied:

• added eventFrequency dataset value from internal FB API, so i.e. for event 264253199808762 its "CUSTOM" and "890538409322295" its "SINGLE"
• fixed duration value for scheduled events and added it as sub-value to childEvents[]
• added utcEndDate so i.e. for single events it can be used to calculate time diff between start and end, from data point of view single event IS NOT schedule even if its duration several days: still can attend or invite-discuss etc only SINGLE event, further logic should be external and based on current data

Sample run: https://console.apify.com/view/runs/mRNztYCScvAXz4ECH