Question

Facebook Developers: What is the difference between oauth_token and access token ????

Answer 1

The first one is an APP access token. The second one from Graph API Explorer is a USER access token. There is a third type called PAGE access token. Each do something different.

APP access tokens are used to get information that your app is privileged to access. And in some cases where publish_stream is granted from an app user, you can use it to post to that user's wall, without needing a USER access token.

USER access tokens are given to your app and they relate to the permissions a specific app user has granted to your application so you app can act on their behalf.

PAGE access tokens are given to page admins so they can act on behalf of the page. To go from a user access token to a page access token, call /me/accounts using the user access token to get a list of pages they admin along with each pages access tokens.