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Facebook is rolling out a major update to its search feature this week that allows you to search your friends’ posts. With this new update you can tap the knowledge of others on Facebook much more easily. Previously when you searched a term on Facebook the results showed Pages, photos, places and interests. Now when you search a term on Facebook you can also find results in others’ posts.
And they can find yours.
Facebook will be giving you easier access to the information contained in posts. Whoever can see what you post on Facebook can now search and see results from your posts.
This new search feature is rolling out on English-speaking accounts on the Web and in its iPhone/iPad app. The Android version will be released after this feature has been put through the paces by the iOS users.
How to Use Facebook’s New Search Feature
Not every Facebook account has this feature yet. First, look to see whether your account has this new feature. Type in a keyword your friends might have posted about, such as “recipes”, and look for a notice to appear under the search bar.
If your screen looks like this, you have the new feature:
If you don’t have this feature yet, your screen might look like this:
If you don’t have the feature, wait until it rolls out to your account. If you do have the feature, then click on the information you’re looking for. You’ll be shown tabs with options. You can search:
- Posts
- People
- Photos
- Pages
- More
“More” includes Places, Groups, Apps and Events.
Examples of Facebook Post Searches
Have you ever seen a Facebook post and then wanted to find it later? Maybe you’re looking for your new favorite book and you can’t remember which friends just recommended one. Search for “books” to find your friends’ posts about books.
Perhaps you remember that a friend of yours posted a recipe for a Grinch cocktail and now you want to make it.
You can find out more details, see more examples and try the search feature on the Facebook Search page.
Facebook Post Search Feature in the iOS App
As mentioned above, Facebook’s new post search feature is also rolling out in its iOS app for iPhone and iPad. You can check to see if you have it by opening up your Facebook app and searching for a word your friends use in their posts. If you have the update, your search results will include your friends’ posts:
If you don’t yet have the feature on your iDevice, your search results may look like this:
Value of This New Search Feature
The value of this new search feature is directly related to what your friends post on Facebook. If your friends are awesome (as mine are) and post interesting information (as my friends do), this new search feature will give you access to a treasure trove of cool stuff which makes this huge news!
If your friends are awesome but only post Facebook updates of what they had for breakfast or of their hamster Ignatius learning a Stupid Pet Trick, then this update won’t be as valuable to you and this news isn’t very exciting. If your Facebook friends aren’t awesome, well, I’m just plain sorry about that.
Rethinking What You Post
Even if you don’t have this update yet, you should consider that your posts will now be searchable by anyone who can see your posts. You may want to review your Facebook posts to make sure that you’re okay with them being easily found in searches. There is no time limit to the search results, posts will appear from when you first opened your Facebook account if they match the search term.
If you want your posts to be found, you may want to include relevant keywords to help your posts be included in your friends’ search results. If you don’t want your posts to be found, perhaps you should delete them to avoid them showing up in search results.
Rethinking Your Privacy Settings
You may also want to review your privacy settings to check on who can see your posts because those are the same people who will be able to search your posts. Err on the side of keeping your posts private to your friends. Think of employers, university admissions officers, frenemies etc. who can search your posts more easily now.
See, Privacy Checkup – Check Your Facebook Privacy Settings in 3 Easy Steps!
Your Thoughts
Do you have Facebook’s new search feature yet? Have you found any helpful posts from your friends? Will you be rethinking what you post on Facebook? Let us know in the Comments section below!
Hi Carolyn,
This sounds like good news! 🙂
I read your post and headed right over to Facebook to check out this feature, but it’s not up there yet – guess will take a while, just as you mentioned.
Yes, Facebook’s new search feature will make search so much easier for all of us, especially if we want to see what our friend’s have posted, related to what we are looking for. So, would the new search also show us what the general Facebook users are also using (besides our friend’s)? Just wondering…and waiting to try it out.
That was a nice video about setting the privacy right, which is so important, especially with the many fans and followers we have.
Thanks for sharing. Have a nice week ahead 🙂
Hi Carolyn,
I like this new feature but I don’t have it on my account just yet.
I know they implemented the save feature so that if you saw something you could save it to refer back to later but I like this search feature so that I can find more of what I’m looking for on Facebook itself.
I have always had my settings so that only friends can see my stuff. Not that I have to worry about an employer or someone like that down the road but my thinking behind that was I want them to be my friend if they are interested in seeing what I share. I just wish people would connect with me instead of just sending a friend request.
Thanks for this update, good to know this is coming soon.
Hope your week is going well and talk to you again soon.
~Adrienne
Hi Carolyn
So grateful to you for sharing this post as I was just wondering to see a lot of changes at my FB account.
A new feature of thanks video to friends is going viral nowadays at it and obviously that is also an added feature of new update.
It means now we have advance option to refine our search by clicking the exact category which we want to know.
Thanks for sharing this very timely post.
Hi, Carolyn, this is great and so needed! I’ve always been struck by how limited the search function is, not that I use FB a lot.
I rushed over to my FB but it’s not up and running on my account yet. I also checked out Google Plus (which I use more) but their search function is like FB’s original way.
I wonder if this will make business posts easier to find? Of course people can already click on a tag to search so they’re not totally invisible.
Thanks for the news 🙂
So, as not to make a big deal of this latest, new, FB “feature”, I’m just going to list a few open-questions, & some observations below:
QUESTIONS:
– Who/what is making these choices about what level of sharing, or about what extent the sum-total of privacy/anonymity/security of the masses(public) social-data are fair-game for exploitation, in one form or another?? Of course, the SNS(Social Network Site) won’t spin it that way to you. They will highlight only the potential social/personal benefit/value of sharing, & also of relinquishing control of said data, that most sane people in the 1990’s would consider a no-brainer: NO! But, today we now seem to grudgingly embrace the inevitability of the loss of privacy. We are, maybe, encouraged by the face that we’re all in it together, & everyone else’s data is out there, so it can’t be that awful, right? YES, it can be!!
– Should there not be a measure/law/regulation in effect to address these significant changes to the way in which private & public information flows(& is available) to the mass-public?
– The Grandfather-Clause, as I understand it, is necessary, in those cases where a new restriction, or law is enacted, and those folks who are currently committed, or entrenched in an action/behavior/contract based upon rules/laws set a priori; and also, that these current contracts/actions can not be reasonably altered at this the current point in time; then, these people shall be waived from required adherence to any new law/rules, so long as the continued action/contract does not cause reasonable harm/hardship to any other related party.
So, in FB’s case, the data is already out there in cyberspace, it’s only a question of tech improvements in it’s contextual-availability, accessibility, timeliness, & analysis.. The ability for technology to achieve this is inevitable & upon us now. AGAIN, I ASK WHO/WHAT IS STEERING/DRIVING/NEGOTIATING THESE CHANGES?? I BELIEVE THE ANSWER IS: Capitalistic & “free-market” forces….. Exposing other questions that some overseeing-body should now be asking: WHO ARE THE LONGTERM BENEFICIARIES OF THESE CHANGES? IS THERE NOT A FUNDAMENTAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST AMONG THE CONSTITUENTS OF THIS DICHOTOMOUS MODEL OF SOCIAL-NETWORKING-> “WRAPPED-UP & SUFFOCATED IN A BUSINESS-PLAN”???
– How can we expect to maximize the benefits to the stakeholders in FB, & at the same time, maximize the benefits to the sources-of-the-commodity, this commodity being essential for SNS(FB)’s bottom-line? (The “sources” here being the Facebook member-community-user or you. The “commodity”, in which I refer, is the behavioral/sociological/private/profile information that industry wants so that they can sell a more competitive/profitable product/service to the “right” target consumer, thus more efficiently, with much less waste/cost.) It is just not possible to produce value from nothing in this model, there will always be losers here. The membership will be sold a lot of malarkey, before they figure out the’re being exploited for their “commodity”. The industry wants to monetize the member’s “commodity” by contextualizing the information by making it available to other members in the appropriate context, as well as, utilizing the product buying-implications of it’s content.
– Then, why is our government not stepping in to stop this possibly disastrous, social-political outcome from being inflicted on the US population?? “To protect the people”— Isn’t this what our constitution says about one of the purposes of our government?
– Are there not enormous potential personal, private, & governmental security issues at risk here, those that could lead to a re-structuring of how our society functions at the the basic social level? Certainly, Homeland-Security Risks should be called into question here, at the very least.
Carolyn, thanks for bringing this new FB proposed change to the fore.
Hi Carolyn,
This feature isn’t available at my end yet…however, the change, while essentially great and functional, has some drawbacks – the most obvious being that nothing would be really private anymore. Could this is connected with the January 1st propose policy update?
It’s time to be ‘triple careful’. Who would appreciate getting in trouble?
Be certain to make the day great!
Always,
Terungwa
Hi Terungwa, Yes, your posts won’t be shared any more broadly with this new search feature on Facebook. If your privacy setting is Friends Only, then only your friends will be able to search for your posts.
You’re absolutely right, Terungwa, we should triple check our privacy settings as our posts are much easier to find now!
Hi Carolyn,
Really appreciate this in-depth look at Graph Search,
it’s pros & cons. Thank you for giving me a one-stop place to read about
it.