Many people have noticed that tools that provide access to Facebook Graph searches, such as Shane McCusker’s Chrome extension or Searchisback, sometimes don’t produce results any longer. Using the Graph search directly, via URLs, we now also see some searches leading to empty pages. I want to bring some clarity to what has changed in the searches we have been using for sourcing and suggest some fixes.
As we know, we can search “by a string,” with the URLs including a) “/str/” b) Facebook IDs. For example, people who like pages named “Python” can be expressed as https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Python/pages-named/likers or https://www.facebook.com/search/7899581788/likers.
Here is the summary of changes:
1. The “/str/” searches that include either “employees” or “students” no longer work. I.e., we can’t search “by a string” for employers, job titles, schools, and majors. (Example of a search that no longer produces results, only shows an empty page: https://www.facebook.com/search/str/google/pages-named/employees.)
2. Searching by IDs, we need to replace:
- /major/students by /students
- /job/employees by /employees
– then the searches involving those will start working again.
(Tools that will update the searches that they run in the background will also produce results, except for the searches outlined in “1.”, above).
Here is a variety of searches on Facebook that work.
- People who have worked at Target https://www.facebook.com/search/8103318119/employees/ever
- Registered Nurses: https://www.facebook.com/search/113852765291861/employees
- People who like pages named “Python” https://www.facebook.com/search/7899581788/likers or https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Python/pages-named/likers.
- People who live in Chicago https://www.facebook.com/search/108659242498155/residents/present or https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Chicago/pages-named/residents/present
- People who speak Spanish https://www.facebook.com/search/110343528993409/speakers or https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Spanish/pages-named/speakers
- People who studied Math https://www.facebook.com/search/766203246743307/students
- People who go to UC Berkeley https://www.facebook.com/search/10111634660/students/present
Combinations:
- People who like Python and have worked at Google https://www.facebook.com/search/104958162837/employees/ever/7899581788/likers/intersect
- Chicago, Illinois residents who like Python and have worked at Google https://www.facebook.com/search/104958162837/employees/ever/7899581788/likers/108659242498155/residents/intersect
- Spanish speakers who are San Francisco, California residents and like Python and have worked at Google https://www.facebook.com/search/104958162837/employees/ever/7899581788/likers/114952118516947/residents/110343528993409/speakers/intersect
- Computer Science Students who go to UC Berkeley https://www.facebook.com/search/10111634660/students/present/104076956295773/students/intersect
- People who studied Computer Science and Math https://www.facebook.com/search/107756862591509/students/ever-past/104076956295773/students/ever/intersect
- People who are Medical Doctors and worked as Registered Nurses https://www.facebook.com/search/106002029440217/employees/present/113852765291861/employees/ever/intersect
- Registered Nurses who speak Spanish https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Spanish/pages-named/speakers/113852765291861/employees/ever/intersect
- Computer Science students who live in Chicago https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Chicago/pages-named/residents/present/104076956295773/students/intersect
- People who like Python and study Computer Science https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Python/pages-named/likers/104076956295773/students/intersect
- People who like Python and have worked at Google https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Python/pages-named/likers/104958162837/employees/ever/intersect
- People who like Python and speak Spanish https://www.facebook.com/search/str/Python/pages-named/likers/str/Spanish/pages-named/speakers/intersect
There is one additional change I am aware of: “groups of a user” was https://www.facebook.com/search/100000155790214/groups – now (oddly) needs to be https://www.facebook.com/search/str/100000155790214/groups.
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