Have you ever needed to look for a post you shared on Facebook?! Or maybe a comment, like, or reaction you made that you would need to find and edit? Did you feel like Facebook, the Social Media giant, has just hidden the content? Did you try to locate it by scrolling through your own and your friend’s timeline endlessly searching for the old posts? Did it take ages just to find it?
Do you ever think there has to be a better way to search for what you were looking for on the social network???
Well, Yes, there is a better way to search for specific information on your Facebook, and we can help. In this article, we will give you the Tips for Searching for Content on Your Facebook Timeline in 2020 Facebook.
Facebook Timeline Narrative
There are many reasons why you may want to access old posts;
1. Maybe you want to access a comment that you previously posted,
2. Or you may want to show a previous post to a friend in person,
3. You just want to refer to or use a previous post.
Whatever it might be and wherever it may be, either on your own or your friend’s Facebook, there is a solution to search for a post without scrolling through every information and search results.
Facebook Timeline is a feature that has been present since the beginning but has always gone unnoticed. By default, Facebook chooses not to display every post by you or your friends on your Timeline. Obviously, if you just scroll through your Profile Page once, you Will Not Find every Post.
Before, there used to be a bar on your profile page’s right-hand side with the different years on it, but even that only showed the highlights. So, you weren’t necessarily viewing all the posts from that year. That meant you might not even be able to find the post you were looking for anyway.
Facebook Timeline Reinvented
The Facebook Timeline Reinvention has been the most significant upgrade in Facebook 2020 Version. The new upgraded Facebook design has several cool features that can give your profile a better impression and enhance its ranking among other social networks. These include:
1. Reinventing and Designing your Profile and Cover Photos
2. Checking for Grammar Mistakes
3. Poking People differently
4. Managing Posts in Bulk
5. Using Videos as a Profile Picture, and
Just like everything else that has been upgraded, your Timeline has become more comfortable to use too.
So, what are the Tips for Looking for Posts on Your Facebook; well, here we go.
Tips To Effective Post Searching On Facebook
Well, there are a few ways to search for your published content on Facebook, and we will name all of them to make your life easy. These would all be accessible both on Facebook Mobile and Desktop. But our examples have been illustrated through Facebook Desktop.
#Tip 1: Facebook Search Bar Browser
The most overlooked but effective, easy, and fast way to find something on your Timeline or anywhere else on Facebook is the Facebook Search Browser and its search results. Facebook Search Bar is not just for finding friends, locations, interests, or business. It is a search engine for everything on Facebook. So, you can use it to find your specific posts on your Timeline, too, just by entering your query and viewing the results.
You must just:
1. Click on the Facebook Search browser Bar
2. Type; My posts + “The Specific Subject” you are trying to find. For example, My Posts “Rolls Roys.”
3. Then Press Enter or Magnifying Glass Icon to produce Results.
Now everything I had posted regarding Rolls Roys will pop Up.
Or.
You can search by adding “My Posts” and then the subject you are searching to find. Or you could just search for the Word and filter your search using the filters on the left-hand side of your page.
To Exemplify:
Here we searched only for the subject intended, like; “Engagement.” Now we can select to filter what we are searching for and where we are trying to find the results.
Based on the filter you select, you can select where you are searching for your specific post or subject. The benefit of the Facebook Search Bar Browser feature is numerous. One is that even if the topic you are looking for belongs to a Facebook friends’ account, a celebrity, business, news, groups, or a public page you do or do not follow, it is locatable through the results and based on your words search.
For Instance: If you are looking for a couch that you previously saw on Facebook Marketplace, you must just:
1. Search “Couch” on the Facebook Search Bar
2. Then Click Marketplace among the Filters.
Or
If you are searching for a Person or a Location, you have the option to enter the specific name in the Search Bar and see, check and scroll through the related results and options to find your specific information.
#Tip 2: Activity Log
If you are looking for your own posts, comments, or activity, the most incredible place to look for it would be in the Activity Log feature. It is a feature that serves several options, including:
1. Your Posts may it be:
a) Photos
b) Videos
c) Relationship Status
d) Posts Share
e) Music
f) groups activities
g) web and link share
h) Past activities both in Public or Private Accounts, Pages, or other people you follow.
2. Posts you are Tagged in by other people
3. Posts by Others on Your Profile.
4. Posts You have Hidden.
5. Images and Videos on Your Profile
6. Photos you are Tagged In by other people
7. All your Photos
8. All posts you have liked, commented, or shared; in public or private.
9. Archived and Deleted Messages
10. In the new Facebook Upgrade, you can see what you searched for on Facebook Search Browser Bar.
You can access your Activity Page By:
1. Log-In to Your Facebook
2. On your Facebook Home, Click your Profile Picture and Name
3. In your Profile and under your Cover Photo, Profile Photo, and Name. On the right-hand side, find the three horizontal dot Icon and go over it, using your cursor pointer.
4. A menu will appear, with; “Activity Log” and “Timeline Settings.”
5. Click on the “Activity Log.”
6. Once you click on the “Activity Log,” It will open to a new Page.
7. Here, you can search for anything in different sections by Selecting the Icon Bar Filters on your Left. All your Past actions are precisely recorded here for your privacy.
8. You can select your:
a. Archives: This is the location where your Inbox Conversations will go once archived, and they are only visible to yourself. Archiving a Conversation will hide it from your inbox until the next time you choose to chat with the person again. Archiving a message should not be confused with deleting an Inbox message. While Deleting is permanent, archiving a message will just hide it for a while.
b. Trash: All messages are deleted from your Inbox.
c. Timeline Review: It is where you can manually control tagged posts before their appearance on your Profile.
d. Photo Review: This is where you can review the Photos you may be in or are tagged in by other people.
e. Tag Review: This is where you can review posts that you have been tagged in by someone, not in your friend lists.
9. Below, your Activity Menu is all your Activities based on the most recent date.
***Additional Tip: When looking at each activity, a small round horizontal three-dot Icon will pop up. Depending on the activity, you could choose to Delete, Move to Trash, or Show / Not Show on Your Facebook Posts. You would just have to click the icon shown below:
10. You can also click on the small Filter Link
11. Using the Filter, you can search for your related Activity and Facebook particulars based on:
a. Years
b. Months
c. Or Detail Categories like:
i. Actions
ii. Posts
iii. Activity You are Tagged In
iv. Photos and Videos
v. Photos Tagged In
vi. Other People’s Post on Your Account
vii. Hidden Posts from your Profile
viii. Likes and Reactions
ix. Posts and Comments
x. Pages, Page Likes, and Interests
xi. Comments
xii. Profile
xiii. Added Friends
xiv. Removed Friends
xv. Sent Friend Requests
xvi. Received Friend Requests
xvii. Life Events
xviii. Archived Stories
xix. Your Stories
xx. Video Polls Taken
xxi. Songs Listened To
xxii. Articles You have Read
xxiii. Movies and TV
xxiv. Games and
xxv. A lot more…
Which gives you a lot more ease in finding what you are looking for in your Timeline.
The Activity Log Feature gives you detailed access to all your actions on Facebook. Whether it is your Posts, your comments, likes, reactions, or searches, it records it all. It is especially helpful to search for or see your activity on someone else’s Facebook Pages, Comments, or Posts.
#Tip 3: Facebook Posts Filters
In the new Facebook Update 2020, you can also search for your Timeline details using the Posts Filters on your Profile Page Shown in the Image Below. The latest Posts Filter is maybe the most extraordinary change and addition to your Facebook account and the best part for more comfortable and quicker searchability.
For easy searchability through your Posts, you can:
1. Click on the “List View” – Which is the automatic way your posts are aligned, or
2. Click on the “Grid View,” – Which turns your Posts into grids separated by respective Months and Years.
3. Or You Could click on Filters. Shown Below:
4. Then, a Pop Up Menu will Appear, called “Post Filters.”
Under the Post Filters Menu, you can select the Year, Posted By, Privacy, and Tagged Posts on your Timeline. It will only specifically look for Content and Posts on Your Profile, whether posted by yourself or your friends.
5. You would just have to select your filters and click “Done” to see the Posts or Content you are searching to find.
The new Post Filters and Grid View option on Facebook is an excellent addition if you are looking for something on your Timeline. It is also much more accessible than your Facebook Log. But, if you still can not locate the content you are looking for, the Action Log provides a more detailed history of your every move on Facebook.
***Additional Tip: The Grid View is not available on Facebook Mobile. Information is only Presented in List. But the Post Filters is still accessible on Mobile.
#Tip 4: Third-Party Apps
You may also choose to use Third-Party Apps and Websites to help in your search functionality on Facebook. For Instance, one Tool of choice is:
Q-Search – This is an App that quickly separates posts on your Timeline concerning your Search Result. It gives you the choice of filtering your search by status, photos, or links. It will then display your own posts but other posts by friends under the same investigation. It also allows you to search on your friends’ Timeline for your own posts.
Which Tip Is The Best?
There are other Third-Party tools, but we do not recommend using them unless it’s necessary. With any social media or social network tools in general, there is a small amount of privacy loss. You would have to accept this privacy reduction to allow the agency to access your account information. This choice would not be ideal for any account, especially a Business or Influencer Account on social media.
On the other hand, Facebook’s new Updates are becoming more straightforward and accessible to its social media users. If you are Searching on Your Facebook Timeline for specific content or old posts, we would recommend doing your best to do so using the first three tips given in this article and features on Facebook itself. By using the Features within Facebook, you would not compromise your privacy to find content.
