If you’ve tried searching for someone on Facebook in the past 24 hours, there’s a good chance you didn’t find them. The reason is that Facebook’s people search functionality hasn’t been working. While we don’t know when the problem will be resolved, we’re sure this is a big problem considering that most people search for other users on Facebook regularly.
Many users have been reporting the issue to us which we first noticed yesterday evening. Given that Facebook is a communication tool, we’d expect that most users search for other people when they aren’t connecting with people they already know. While I’d love to take this opportunity to extrapolate about Facebook search downtime, there’s little else to add.
Have you noticed that Facebook people search is down or do you not spend much time searching for people you aren’t already connected to?
Yes, I noticed this
Comment by linto — February 16, 2010 @ 3:35 pm
Yup, I noticed it last night as well. All I can get is web results. I had to resort to google to find people on FB. But that's much more time consuming.
Comment by trellis23 — February 16, 2010 @ 3:39 pm
I totally tried to search for someone yesterday and it wasn't working!
I think this is essential for people to have on Facebook, I hope they fix it soon and are not thinking of getting rid of it!
Comment by Marvin — February 16, 2010 @ 3:46 pm
Yea I've noticed and it's pretty freakin' irritating!!
Comment by Sjon — February 16, 2010 @ 4:01 pm
that's not the only problem with the search, not for me anyway.
Comment by yorai — February 16, 2010 @ 4:29 pm
Facebook is going to start charging soon! That is why the search is down.. you will have to pay for a gold account to search for gold members and the such. Check the Payment tab in the privacy settings section….
Comment by avonbarksdale — February 16, 2010 @ 5:13 pm
It appeared to me that it was down last week.
Comment by Dave — February 16, 2010 @ 5:26 pm
Yes… I noticed it too.
Comment by Shirleyomalley — February 16, 2010 @ 6:40 pm
Yep – any search for people just comes up with a blank page.
Comment by tido — February 16, 2010 @ 5:44 pm
I noticed this when I looked for fan pages and groups too
Comment by chritina — February 16, 2010 @ 7:01 pm
Yep, everything but web search is down and has been for hours at least.
Comment by Lauren Jacob — February 16, 2010 @ 7:27 pm
This problem has been going on from at least 02.15.10 maybe earlier.
Comment by will — February 16, 2010 @ 7:38 pm
Yep, its out all-right. I was just searching for groups & applications. Then tried to search a name, just to see if it was ALL going haywire.
It is.
=(
Comment by Kelly Kravitz — February 16, 2010 @ 7:58 pm
Facebook not having people search tool is like a bar not serving alcohol: It defeats the purpose of being there.
Comment by Hanz — February 16, 2010 @ 10:13 pm
Here's what I've noticed. I've been doing a lot of name searches on FB to add details to my ~600 entry gmail contact list. FB now only returns web information for anything I search for that's not already in my FB contact list. Changing accounts has no effect – the second account is marked as guilty by association as it comes from the same IP address as the first account I just logged out of.
Only by using a third FB account, logging in from a different network location, and using the private browsing feature of Firefox to suppress any leftover cookies will people searches work. Perhaps by tomorrow all will be reset/forgiven.
You can still search by uploading a contact list.
/pbp
Comment by Paul Pomes — February 16, 2010 @ 11:44 pm
there's not anymore menu pop-up like design before…
Comment by bee — February 17, 2010 @ 8:11 am
Tried to search for a Terry Smith once. There were 500 options. Could have used a gender option to weed out the females.
Comment by Jackie W. — February 17, 2010 @ 1:05 pm
I have reported this problem months ago, plus other problems, but no one is interested in getting back to me to help sort out the problems.Trying to do anything on face book lately is soooo frustrating, so if anyone employed by face book reads this, how about putting yourself out & returning the email.
Comment by Helen welch — April 14, 2010 @ 5:10 am
Yeah , and I noticed that
Comment by Garry Kasparov — April 14, 2010 @ 12:04 pm
I want to find peoples e mail,addresses and phone numbers
Comment by Noor — April 17, 2010 @ 12:22 am
people need to stop talking that foolishness cus it's uncalled 4 so jus stop it
Comment by glen — April 21, 2010 @ 6:41 am
i want to find numbers and addresses
Comment by glen — April 21, 2010 @ 6:42 am
I want to have to find my boyfriend
Comment by Chelsea — April 25, 2010 @ 9:52 am
yeah i also noticed it.Probely they will fix it
Comment by marleni — May 5, 2010 @ 4:48 pm
best
Comment by arfansha — May 6, 2010 @ 2:26 am
And… I believe it's down again?
Comment by Sean — May 18, 2010 @ 12:07 am
i cant seem to find my mates on here
somone told me that this whole facebook page is changin
now i can see that but its so not fair
so crap
Comment by sim — May 23, 2010 @ 12:13 am
i evan thaought of chattin to this guy hes such a mop head but i cant believe i dont wanna be mean hes judt so uhh
he ;ooks at me and i blush and i jst hate it uhhhhhhhhhh
stupid guy + stupid face book
Comment by sall — May 23, 2010 @ 12:26 am
haloo….
Comment by jiha — June 1, 2010 @ 1:42 am
looking for someone
Comment by arthur — June 4, 2010 @ 11:22 am
ja noticed it ,and is stil down,irritating
Comment by emmacia — July 26, 2010 @ 5:46 am
zack is cool bro ever
rachel
Comment by zack .com — August 12, 2011 @ 10:19 am
I lost my facebook page..please fix this.
Comment by sandy Kittredge — December 23, 2011 @ 10:22 am