We often use Facebook to search for our friends and families, interests, and hobbies. But, with so many options, some of us haven’t been active on Facebook in a long time. If you are one of them and just want a quick search on Facebook you can still do it without an account.
It’s completely legit to view your friend’s profile without setting up an account yourself. There are plenty of ways to do so. Most of them are based on searching through various engines.
So if you’re someone trying to look up your old mates without signing in, you’ve come to the right place. I have listed all the possible ways to Facebook search without an account down below. So without further ado, let’s get right to it!
How to Facebook Search Without an Account
You can search for anything, from your favorite celebrity to your best friend in high school. The process is simple and easy to execute. Once you get the basics, you never have to look up tutorials on how to search without an account. Here are the most well-known techniques:
Using Search Engines
Search engines like Google and Bing are the easiest way to find your friend on Facebook. But this feature is limited to only those users who have not restricted their visibility in privacy settings. Users can choose not to show their profile to anyone outside their friends’ list and on search engines as well. Keeping that in mind, follow the steps shown below:
- Open your Browser.
- Type
site:facebook.com "what/who you want to view"
on the search bar. - After the site returns the search results, find if the user you’re interested in is on the list.
- If you find them, click on the link and you’ll be redirected to their Facebook page.
However, if you don’t see your friend’s name on this search list, he/she might have privatized his/her account. This method generally works well for business pages rather than personal profiles.
Using the Public URL
If you’re not fond of search engines, you can directly search for a Facebook profile from the address bar of your browser. Here’s how to do it:
- Open your Browser.
- Type or copy and paste
www.facebook.com/public/
on the address bar. - Write the name of the Facebook user you are interested in after ‘public/.’
- Make sure that the first and last names are separated by a hyphen. For Example:
www.facebook.com/public/Mesut-Ozil
- Find the user you’re looking for in the search results.
- If you find them, click on the name to view the profile.
However, if you don’t, then this user has most probably altered his privacy settings to make himself invisible to someone other than his Facebook friends.
Using Social Search Engines
Social search engines are advanced search engines specifically used to keep track of users on each social media platform. You can narrow down your search query by using filters, locations, regions, and topics. Business agencies generally use these engines to determine what their users are currently interested in by viewing their comments and activity status.
Some of the best social engines that you can use are:
- Pipl
- Social Searcher
- Talkwalker social search
- PeopleFinder
You can visit these search engines and search for your desired Facebook profile without having to make an account. You can use the various available filters and track all your friends on almost all social media sites along with a highly customized result.
Using Hashtags
This method works well only if the user you’d like to search on Facebook uses hashtags on his/her posts. It tracks the hashtag and returns all the photos, status, and videos using this particular hashtag. However, if the user has privatized the account, none of his/her posts will pop up. Try this method yourself by following the steps shown below:
- Open your browser.
- Type
www.facebook.com/hashtag/
on the address bar. - Type the name of the hashtag you’d like to search for after ‘hashtag/.’
For Example:www.facebook.com/hashtag/vacation
- Here, all the Facebook posts with #vacation are then returned. Look for your interested user in this list.
Make a Temporary Facebook Account
If you don’t want to create any personal accounts on Facebook, then making a temporary one can provide you with the best solution in this case. Facebook asks for an email address or a phone number to create a new account. You can easily create a new email address that’s not associated with your personal life. Anyways, follow the steps below:
- Open your browser and go to www.facebook.com.
- Click on Create new Account.
- Fill up the form by using a new email address that was not linked with Facebook at any time.
And there you go, you just created a burner Facebook Id. You can search for anything and anyone you like within the Facebook application. But keep in mind that although the user you’re looking for can be found, his/her photos and videos might not be accessible to you because of his/her privacy settings.
Ask Help From Your Friends Who Are on Facebook
When nothing works, your friend can be your best bet. Asking for help from your friend to see the profile of your target often gives the best return. Furthermore, if your real-life friend is a Facebook friend with the user you plan to search for, you get the best result with the latest photos, videos, and status.
Similar to the methods mentioned above, the privacy settings of the target user determine how much information you can access. Facebook is implementing a strict policy regarding user data after the recent data breach controversy. So, considering this, asking for help from a friend who is a Facebook friend with your target user is often the best way to get a satisfactory outcome.