Join us Sept. 14-16 in Miami to connect with top publishing leaders
Facebook has officially made it impossible to hide from it.
Starting today, its search bar is now capable of retrieving every public post ever made — that’s 2 trillion of them. It’s a major step in making Facebook’s search tool relevant when finding breaking news and trending topics, two areas dominated by Google and Twitter.
Previously, searching on Facebook would return Pages a user liked or friended. Now it will return basically everything, but displayed in a more organized manner.
For example, searching “Benghazi Committee” pulls up results from people “Involved in This Story” (in this instance, a post from Sen. Harry Reid); “Top Posts” from publishers that I both follow and don’t; and posts from friends. Lastly, there’s a “Public Posts” section that retrieves the “most recent and relevant” messages.
Here’s what it looks like in action:
Facebook users make 1.5 billion searches each days, it says in a blog post, the aim is to make people aware of its capabilities. The social network has an image problem when it comes to search since people don’t turn to it first when it comes to breaking news, and it was difficult to sort through the myriad of results.
Perhaps this will change that perception.
Images via Facebook.
More in Media
Media Briefing: What to expect at the Digiday Publishing Summit, September 2026 edition
Here’s a sneak peek at the topics that will be discussed onstage during the Digiday Publishing Summit, September 2026 edition.
Location data fuels mall giant Simon’s new pitch to advertisers
Simon is letting brands target shoppers in its malls in other environments and use new measurement tools based on Simon’s consumer data.
Why brands are turning to older creators for authenticity AI can’t fake
Millennial and Gen X content creators offer consistency, authenticity, and storytelling; three things brands need now more than ever.