We will all agree that Facebook is one platform with a beehive of activities. This is to be expected, as the site is visited by millions of people all over the globe daily and has well over 2.5 billion active monthly users as of 2020. Thus, there are so many accounts on Facebook, as almost everybody is on Facebook.
Since there are so many accounts on Facebook, searching for people, posts, or photos may become difficult sometimes. At times, when you want to do a basic search in the app using a search keyword, you’ll probably get tons of results on the platform. When this happens, you may need to use Facebook’s advanced search filters to get the results you are looking for.
Once you know how to conduct an advanced search on Facebook, you can easily look for people, posts, and items in the marketplace.
Here, we will be showing you how to do an advanced search on the Facebook platform using different devices. Let’s get started:
How to do an Advanced Search on Facebook Via Desktop
- Click open a web browser on your computer and visit https://www.facebook.com.
- Look for the search box in the top-left corner.
- Type in what you want to search for in the search box and press the ‘Enter’ button on your keyboard.
- As the advanced search page opens, you’ll have access to 11 search categories in the menu to the left. They include:
Posts:Here you can look for your friend’s posts or posts that have your friend’s name mentioned.
People:You can find people based on location, education, or workplace.
Photos: Look for photos by type, location, year, or even person.
Videos:Search for videos by date, location, or whether it’s Facebook Live.
Marketplace:The marketplace category allows you to search for products that are available on Facebook’s market. However, not all users can access this feature. It depends on the marketplace availability in your country.
Pages:Here, you can use various filters to narrow down specific pages.
Places:Search for places like restaurants, clubs, and so much more. You can also obtain a map of your location for better searching.
Groups: Search for groups by location, private or public status, and your membership status.
Apps:The apps category does not have any detailed filters.
Events:Decide if you are looking for an online or physical event. Set the location, set how many days in the future you’d like to search, and define the type of event you’re looking for. Select the type of event you are looking for.
Links:The Links category does not have additional filters.
Now each of these categories has an additional set of search options, which helps you define the results further.
Searching for posts
You can use the post category to search for outposts that someone has added to their wall. Complete the following steps:
- Click to open Facebook’s search page.
- Scroll to the search bar and type in the name of the person whose post you are looking for. Then click on ‘Enter’.
When you are typing someone’s name, avoid clicking on the suggestion that appears beneath the search bar. If you click on it, you will be directed to the person’s profile page.
- Tap on Posts from the menu to the left.
- The Posts category will be expanded to include more search options.
Select from the options displayed.
As you select any of the displayed options, the search results will automatically refresh in the main portion of the screen.
Searching for people
To search for people:
- Click on the ‘People’ category in the left menu.
- From the four options provided, which are Friends of Friends, City, Education, and Work, choose anyone you want.
The other categories work just the same as Posts and People, with the corresponding filters.
How to do an Advanced Search on the Facebook Android App
- Click on the Facebook app on your device.
- Click on the “Search” icon at the top right corner of the app.
- Key in a text into the search bar.
- As the advanced search page pops open, choose a category to narrow down your search results.
- In the search box, type someone’s name.
- Click on one of the categories.
- As the ‘Options’ icon pops up to reveal additional filters for each category,.
- Set your filters to have the relevant results pop up in the main portion of the screen.
How to do an advanced search on the Facebook iPhone app
To access the advanced search feature on the iPhone app, use these steps:
- Click on the Facebook app on your iPhone or iPad.
- Click on the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner of the screen.
- To access the advanced search options, scroll to the search box and enter anything to access the advanced search options.
- Various categories will have tabs displayed. Drag the tabs left and right to access the rest of the categories.
- In the search box, type in the criteria that you want to search for.
- Click on one of the tabs you’d like to use.
- At the top right corner of the screen, you’ll notice the Options icon. To set the filter options, tap it.
- Next, set your options to refresh the search results below. It will offer you the relevant results.
The Advanced Search feature on Facebook makes any search on Facebook easier than searching with anything else you are used to.
