🔍 Facebook Old Posts Search – Search Historical Facebook Posts by Keyword

Search and extract old Facebook posts by keyword with date range filtering. Find historical posts, photos, videos, and albums with comprehensive metadata including reactions, comments, shares, and author details. Perfect for content research, social media analysis, and data mining!

📋 Table of Contents

• 🚀 Features
• 🎯 Use Cases
• ⚡ Quick Start
• 📊 Input Parameters
• 📤 Output Format
• 🎬 Supported Content Types
• 📈 Performance & Reliability
• 💡 Best Practices
• ❓ FAQ
• 📞 Support

🚀 Features

Powerful Search Capabilities

• ✅ Keyword Search - Search Facebook posts by any keyword or phrase
• ✅ Date Range Filtering - Filter posts by start and end dates
• ✅ No Login Required - Search public Facebook posts without authentication
• ✅ Automatic Pagination - Actor handles pagination internally
• ✅ Flexible Results - Control the number of posts to fetch (1-100)

📊 Comprehensive Data Extraction

• ✅ Post Content - Extract full post messages and rich text
• ✅ Engagement Metrics - Get reactions, comments, and share counts
• ✅ Reaction Breakdown - Detailed counts for Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, Angry, Care
• ✅ Author Information - Profile name, ID, URL, and profile picture
• ✅ Media Attachments - Extract photos, videos, and album previews

🎨 Rich Media Support

• ✅ Photos - High-resolution image URLs and metadata
• ✅ Videos - Video URLs, thumbnails, and file links (SD/HD)
• ✅ Albums - Complete album previews with multiple photos
• ✅ External Links - Shared URLs and attached content
• ✅ Events - Attached event information

🎯 Use Cases

Use Case	Description	Benefits
Social Media Research	Analyze historical Facebook posts and trends	Study engagement patterns, track viral content
Content Discovery	Find old posts by specific keywords	Rediscover forgotten content, research topics
Sentiment Analysis	Extract posts for sentiment and emotion analysis	Understand public opinion, track brand sentiment
Academic Research	Collect Facebook data for research projects	Social science studies, behavioral analysis
Brand Monitoring	Track mentions of brands, products, or topics	Monitor brand reputation, competitor analysis
Influencer Research	Find posts from specific time periods	Analyze influencer content, track campaigns
Marketing Intelligence	Discover trending topics and viral content	Content strategy, campaign planning
Crisis Management	Search for posts during specific events	Track public response, manage reputation

⚡ Quick Start

1️⃣ Simple keyword search

{
  "query": "my photos",
  "maxResults": 50
}

2️⃣ Search with date range

{
  "query": "birthday party",
  "startDate": "2025-07-29",
  "endDate": "2025-11-29",
  "maxResults": 10
}

📊 Input Parameters

Configuration options

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
query	String	✅	Keyword or phrase to search for in Facebook posts
startDate	String	❌	Search start date (picked via datepicker)
endDate	String	❌	Search end date (picked via datepicker)
maxResults	Integer	❌	Maximum number of posts to fetch (1-100, default: 3)

📝 Details

query (Required)

• Keyword or phrase to search for
• Searches through post content, captions, and descriptions
• Examples: "my photos", "birthday party", "vacation 2024"
• Case-insensitive search

startDate (Optional)

• Selected via datepicker UI
• Only posts from this date onwards will be included
• Leave empty to search from the beginning

endDate (Optional)

• Selected via datepicker UI
• Only posts up to this date will be included
• Leave empty to search until today

maxResults (Optional)

• Number of posts to fetch (1-100)
• Default: 3
• Actor will automatically paginate internally until this limit is reached (or results end)

📤 Output Format

📝 Post with Photos (Album)

{
  "post_id": "122262386366073579",
  "type": "post",
  "url": "https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=pfbid02w9FA858uYzkWZKbcb7bqMmdW5mufWwz7N9JTPVMAeeCXvQKLW9hL5fQAMErEef94l&id=61552207382544",
  "message": "People Are skipping My Photos because I'm not Trending Like Before  😥😭😭😭😭😭🤣🤣💓💓",
  "message_rich": "People Are skipping My Photos because I'm not Trending Like Before  😥😭😭😭😭😭🤣🤣💓💓",
  "timestamp": 1764314852,
  "date": "2025-11-28T12:34:12.000Z",
  "comments_count": 392,
  "reactions_count": 3925,
  "reshare_count": 15,
  "reactions": {
    "angry": 0,
    "care": 31,
    "haha": 4,
    "like": 3599,
    "love": 289,
    "sad": 0,
    "wow": 2
  },
  "author": {
    "id": "61552207382544",
    "name": "Obio Oluebube",
    "url": "https://www.facebook.com/people/Obio-Oluebube/61552207382544/",
    "profile_picture_url": "https://scontent.fmvd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-1/..."
  },
  "author_title": null,
  "image": null,
  "video": null,
  "album_preview": [
    {
      "type": "photo",
      "image_file_uri": "https://scontent.fmvd4-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/...",
      "url": "https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=122262386252073579&set=a.122100361556073579&type=3",
      "id": "122262386252073579"
    }
  ],
  "video_files": null,
  "video_thumbnail": null,
  "external_url": null,
  "attached_event": null,
  "attached_post": null,
  "attached_post_url": null,
  "text_format_metadata": null,
  "comments_id": "122262386366073579",
  "shares_id": "122262386366073579",
  "scraped_at": "2025-11-29T02:28:00.000Z"
}

🎥 Post with Video

{
  "post_id": "1596371244708812",
  "type": "post",
  "url": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1171775908424095/",
  "message": "My video.. love you all ♥️♥️",
  "timestamp": 1764346719,
  "date": "2025-11-28T21:25:19.000Z",
  "comments_count": 21,
  "reactions_count": 23,
  "reshare_count": 0,
  "reactions": {
    "like": 12,
    "love": 11
  },
  "author": {
    "id": "100030078550618",
    "name": "Runa Prema",
    "url": "https://www.facebook.com/runa.prena.5"
  },
  "video": "https://www.facebook.com/reel/1171775908424095/",
  "video_files": {
    "video_sd_file": "https://video-lhr8-2.xx.fbcdn.net/o1/v/t2/f2/m412/...",
    "video_hd_file": "https://video-lhr6-2.xx.fbcdn.net/o1/v/t2/f2/m366/..."
  },
  "video_thumbnail": "https://scontent-lhr6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t15.5256-10/...",
  "scraped_at": "2025-11-29T02:28:00.000Z"
}

📊 Data Fields Explained

Field Category	Fields	Description
Post Info	post_id, type, url	Unique post identifier, post type, and Facebook URL
Content	message, message_rich	Post text content (plain and rich text)
Timing	timestamp, date	Unix timestamp and ISO date string
Engagement	reactions_count, comments_count, reshare_count	Total engagement metrics
Reactions	reactions.like, reactions.love, etc.	Breakdown of reaction types
Author	author.name, author.id, author.url	Post author information
Media	image, video, album_preview	Attached media content
Video	video_files, video_thumbnail	Video download links (SD/HD)
Metadata	comments_id, shares_id, scraped_at	Additional metadata

🎬 Supported Content Types

Post Types

Type	Description	Media Support
Text Posts	Plain text posts with reactions	✅
Photo Posts	Single image posts	✅ Photos
Album Posts	Multiple photos in albums	✅ Album Preview
Video Posts	Video content (reels, videos)	✅ Videos (SD/HD)
Shared Posts	Posts with external links	✅ External URLs
Event Posts	Posts with attached events	✅ Event Info

🎨 Media Formats

Media Type	Format	Quality
Photos	JPG/PNG	High Resolution
Videos	MP4	SD (360p) / HD (720p)
Thumbnails	JPG	Preview Quality
Profile Pictures	JPG	80x80 - 720x720

📈 Performance & Reliability

⚡ Speed & Efficiency

Metric	Performance	Details
Search Speed	5-10 seconds	Per API request
Posts per Request	Variable	Depends on API response
Max Results	100 per run	Internal pagination until limit
Pagination	Automatic	Handled internally via cursor

🔄 Reliability Features

• ✅ Auto-Retry Logic – Handles temporary failures with exponential backoff
• ✅ Error Reporting – Clear error messages in logs and dataset
• ✅ Rate Limiting – Built-in delays to prevent API throttling
• ✅ Data Validation – Input validation for dates and parameters

💡 Best Practices

✅ Recommended usage

1. Use specific keywords – More specific queries yield better results
2. Set date ranges – Narrow down searches with start/end dates
3. Start with small limits – Test with a low maxResults (e.g., 3–10) before scaling up
4. Monitor engagement – Use the engagement view to analyze post performance

⚠️ Important Notes

• Only public Facebook posts can be searched
• Private posts or restricted content will not appear in results
• Search results depend on Facebook's search algorithm
• Date filtering may not be 100% precise due to API limitations
• Maximum 100 posts per run (actor paginates internally until this limit)
• API keys are required (add to environment variables)

❓ FAQ

Q: Do I need a Facebook account to use this?

A: No! This actor searches public Facebook posts without requiring any Facebook login or authentication.

Q: Can I search private Facebook posts?

A: No, only public Facebook posts can be searched. Private or restricted posts will not appear in results.

Q: How accurate is the date filtering?

A: Date filtering is based on the Facebook API's capabilities. Results should be within the specified date range, but may not be 100% precise.

Q: Can I search for posts from a specific person?

A: This actor searches all public posts by keyword. To search posts from a specific person, include their name in the query or filter results by author name.

Q: What are the reaction types available?

A: Facebook reactions include: Like 👍, Love ❤️, Haha 😂, Wow 😮, Sad 😢, Angry 😠, and Care 🤗.

Q: Can I download the videos and photos?

A: Yes! The actor provides direct URLs to photos and videos (SD/HD). You can download them using the provided URLs.

Q: Is this legal and compliant?

A: This tool searches publicly available Facebook posts only. Users must comply with Facebook's Terms of Service and applicable laws. Use responsibly and ethically.

Q: How often can I run this actor?

A: You can run it as often as needed. The actor includes automatic retry logic for reliability.

📞 Support

🆘 Need Help?

• 📧 Issues - Report bugs and request features
• 📖 Documentation - Complete guides and examples
• 🎯 Best Practices - Tips for optimal usage

🔗 Related Scrapers

• Facebook Marketplace Data Scraper - Scrape Facebook Marketplace data
• Facebook Page Video Downloader - Download videos from Facebook pages
• Facebook Page Details Extractor - Extract details from Facebook pages
• Facebook Page Reels Extractor - Extract reels from Facebook pages
• Facebook Search Video Scraper - Scrape Facebook Video search results
• Facebook Media Downloader - Download photos and videos from Facebook

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🏷️ Find Me Tags

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🚀 Get Started Now

Ready to search historical Facebook posts?

1. Click "Try for free" to test the actor
2. Enter your search keyword and optional date range
3. Get comprehensive post data with engagement metrics instantly

⭐ If this actor helps your workflow, please give it a star!

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Built with ❤️ using Apify Platform | Facebook Old Posts Search v1.0

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Disclaimer: This actor is designed for searching publicly available Facebook posts only. Users are responsible for complying with Facebook's Terms of Service and all applicable laws. Use this tool ethically and responsibly for legitimate purposes only.