Plessas Experts Network

Facebook Matrix

Formulas for Searching Facebook

This is a living document and is constantly changing, check back often

Manually get a Facebook ID

Facebook changes the ways to get ID numbers in the URL periodically, although they are often still visible in certain page URLs, such as profile photos. The best way to consistently get an ID manually is via the source code. Note that you do not have to be logged in to get the FBID.

On the main page of any user profile, right click on unused space. Use ctrl+U (command+option+U on OSX) or in the right click menu, choose “View Page Source”.

*Search for: container_id

This should work across all entities. Test it by typing facebook.com/ and adding the ID number. You should get back to wherever you were, be it a page, group, or profile. If this is not working in sowsearch or the manual Base64 translation method of searching Facebook, try searching for associated_page_id instead.

Note that in some cases the group or user page ID will be in the original URL. For a "place”, it will always be in the URL.

To get the POSTID, follow the instructions as to get a USERID, but on the post permanent link (accessed by the date link) and look for post_id

There is a common source code bug on Facebook (and Instagram). If your source code searches are not highlighting correctly, you can’t copy and paste the ID# correctly. Click through to this video for a solution.

Facebook Directory

The everchanging set of Facebook directories can be used to find items that seem unsearchable by browsing alphabetically.

To find more potential lists like this, consider testing /directory/ or /discover/ before or after keywords following facebook.com. Additionally, a site:facebook.com/directory/ or site:facebook.com/*/discover search may find more options.

Searching using Facebook’s native search and advanced techniques/tools

Currently, the best search techniques to use on Facebook vary depending on what you are searching. There are a variety of search options.

Native search

Facebook’s native search can be very effect and, in some cases, more effective than searching using third party tools or convoluted techniques. For example, probably the most efficient way (currently) to search for photos a person has been tagged in (even if they removed the tag) is to search for photos of a certain person. This is strangely dependent on filters at times. In some cases, when adding a filter such as a location or a source, you can gain much more data. We suggest mapping out the user’s page before attempting this search so that there are multiple ways to filter through friends and locations.

Basic tips for using the native Facebook search:

  • Choose the search result desire from the topical tabs on the top of the search result page, such as Posts, People, Pages, etc

  • Search filters change by topic, so take a look at any topics that may match your search for different options

  • When using the filters, changing your search query in the search box will clear out the filters. If you want to keep them, in most cases, changing the search query in the URL will work

    • https://www.facebook.com/search/posts/?q=holiday&epa=FILTERS&filters= (this link does not work and is for example only)

    • https://www.facebook.com/search/posts/?q=christmas&epa=FILTERS&filters= (this link does not work and is for example only)

  • MORE COMING - UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Facebook Search tools

A number of search tools are available to help navigate the Facebook search. They replicate the current search capability with interfaces that guide searching which may, in some cases, seem easier to use. Additionally, they allow for searching using the ID number, while the native Facebook search will only give a limited number of matching items. For example, if you are trying to add a user named Mike Smith to the filters, you may not see the exact user you are trying to add as one of those suggested by Facebook in the native search, but the following tools will allow the exact ID to be used.

Usage tips:

  • Double check your results. We have seen some false results come through. This is true of any tool though.

  • Maybe sure you clicked to add the filters in most of these tools. This can be previewed near or below the link to conduct the search

JSON to BASE64 TRANSLATION

Instructions from Nemec: https://gist.github.com/nemec/2ba8afa589032f20e2d6509512381114

Our (hopefully) easy to read primer: https://plessas.net/blog/2019/8/14/facebook-searching

OSINTCurious: Part 1 and Part 2

Facebook uses ID numbers for everything in the system. If the string includes an ID number, a placeholder such as (PLACEID), (PAGEID), or (USERID) will be present in the below matrix and should be replaced with an ID number. Variables below are noted in bold.

Disclaimers:

  • These searches can be blocked by making full use of Facebook privacy options.

  • Facebook is constantly changing so some of these that worked yesterday may not work today and yet might still work tomorrow.

  • This page is best viewed on, and the URLs are best used on laptops/desktops

Use the following JSON strings in a JSON to Base64 translation tool. Copy the output, start a Facebook search with the appropriate filters (posts, people, photos, pages, etc) and select another subfilter to get the URL set up. Delete the content after “filters=” and replace with your generated BASE64 code.

Translation tools:

If you want to find… Use this JSON string
People who have indicated they live in a certain place on Facebook {"city":"{\"name\":\"users_location\",\"args\":\"PLACEID\"}"}
People who have identified that they attend(ed) a certain educational facility {"school":"{\"name\":\"users_school\",\"args\":\"PAGEID\"}"}
People who have identified that they work for a certain employer on Facebook {"employer":"{\"name\":\"users_employer\",\"args\":\"PAGEID\"}"}
A list of the user's friends (ready to be combined with other filters). Results will have open friendslists only. Results page will not have an indication of filter used. {"friends":"{\"name\":\"users_friends_of_people\",\"args\":\"USERID\"}"}
Posts, videos, or photos (choose via search tab) from a group {"rp_group":"{\"name\":\"group_posts\",\"args\":\"GROUPID\"}"}
Posts, videos, or photos (choose via search tab) a user or page has posted {"rp_author":"{\"name\":\"author\",\"args\":\"PAGEID\"}"}
Posts, videos, or photos (choose via search tab) tagged to a location {"rp_location":"{\"name\":\"location\",\"args\":\"PLACEID\"}"}
Recent {"rp_chrono_sort":"{\"name\":\"chronosort\",\"args\":\"\"}"}
Posts, videos, or photos (choose via search tab) on an exact date {"rp_creation_time":"{\"name\":\"creation_time\",\"args\":\"{\\\"start_year\\\":\\\"2019\\\",\\\"start_month\\\":\\\"2019-8\\\",\\\"end_year\\\":\\\"2019\\\",\\\"end_month\\\":\\\"2019-9\\\",\\\"start_day\\\":\\\"2019-1-10\\\",\\\"end_day\\\":\\\"2019-09-01\\\"}\"}"}
Facebook Live {"videos_source":"{\"name\":\"videos_live\",\"args\":\"\"}"}
Verified Pages {"verified":"{\"name\":\"pages_verified\",\"args\":\"\"}"}
Combination search (note the one set of outer braces are surrounding the whole query and there is a comma in between parts of the query where the outer braces from individual searches met): People who have identified that they attend(ed) a certain educational facility and who have identified that they work(ed) for a certain employer on Facebook {"school":"{\"name\":\"users_school\",\"args\":\"PAGEID\"}","employer":"{\"name\":\"users_employer\",\"args\":\"PAGEID\"}"}

Unique Graph URLS

The following URL works only on your own account, however you do not have to be friends with the second user. This will show friends in common, posts and photos in common, and any other linking data, such as hometowns, schools, etc.

facebook.com/friendship/USERID/USERID

The following URL will find mutual friends who have public friendslists as long as one of the users searched has a public friendslist (note: appears to have been changed to only work with the user’s own account at the moment)

facebook.com/browse/mutual_friends/?uid=USERID&node=USERID

The following URL will find mutual friends who are fans of a business/fan page

https://www.facebook.com/browse/friended_fans_of/?page_id=PAGEID

The following URL will find pages liked by a person

https://www.facebook.com/browse/fanned_pages/?id=USERID

The following URL will find pages liked by a page

https://www.facebook.com/browse/fanned_pages/?id=PAGEID

The following URL will show people who have shared a specific post

https://m.facebook.com/browse/shares?id=POSTID

Searching a user’s profile for a topic - may bring back content from other accessible places in Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/profile/<USERID>/search/?q=<question>

Reviewing a user’s timeline by year (click “timeline” and scroll down)

https://d.facebook.com/<USERID or USERNAME>

Viewing via the mobile interface (great for accessing video download capability)

https://m.facebook.com/<VIDEOID>

Useful Google Searches

site:facebook.com inurl:safetycheck inurl:(identifyingkeyword) This search will find the safety check-in page for major events in which Facebook has given users the ability to mark themselves as in the area but safe

site:facebook.com inurl:(first name) inurl:(last name) This search allows the ability to search for a user that may have changed their display name on Facebook but may have left the auto-generated username in place.

site:facebook.com/places/Things-to-do-in (city name) This search will find the auto-generated page for any municipality that Facebook user's have identified in their profiles. This will have a PLACEID that can be used in searches.

site:facebook.com/pages/(non-city place name) region -inurl:region This search may find the non-city places, like states or countries, that will also have PLACEID to use in searches.

site:facebook.com "medium geo area" (non-city place name) This search will find the non-city places that are smaller than states or countries, such as counties, that will also have PLACEID to use in searches.

When everything changes…

I intend to keep this up as much as possible, but when things change, check out the following links for resources on how to update your searches: