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Facebook Search People

Search for Facebook people/profiles by keyword with optional location filtering.

SearchAvailablesearchpeopleprofiles

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Introduction

The Facebook Search People API retrieves Facebook profiles matching a search query, with optional location filtering.

What does this API extract?

  • 👤 Profile name and ID
  • 🔗 Profile URL
  • 🖼️ Profile picture
  • 💼 Work and education info
  • 📍 Location details
  • 🧵 Pagination tokens

Input options

  • query (required): Search term to find Facebook people
  • location_uid (optional): Location UID for filtering. Obtain this from the Facebook Search Locations endpoint.
  • end_cursor (optional): For pagination
json
1{
2  "query": "Michael"  
3}

Output example

json
1{
2  "data": {  
3    "page_info": {  
4      "end_cursor": "eyJhZnRlciI6...",  
5      "has_next": true  
6    },  
7    "results": [  
8      {  
9        "id": "pfbid0...",  
10        "name": "Michael Smith",  
11        "url": "https://www.facebook.com/michael.smith",  
12        "profile_picture": "https://..."  
13      }  
14    ]  
15  }  
16}

Conclusion

Use this API to find Facebook profiles by name or keyword. Combine with location_uid from the Search Locations endpoint for geo-targeted results.

About the Facebook Search People API

The Facebook Search People endpoint is part of SocialAPIs' unified REST API for public social-media data. Search for Facebook people/profiles by keyword with optional location filtering. It belongs to the Search category and follows the same auth, pagination, and error-handling conventions as every other endpoint on the platform — so any code you write for one transfers cleanly to the others.

searchpeopleprofiles

What you can do with this endpoint

The Facebook Search People endpoint is most often combined with other SocialAPIs endpoints to power the workflows below. Each one is achievable on the Free tier for evaluation; scale up to Pro or Ultra when you move to production.

Building a unified dataset

Pipe the GET response straight into BigQuery, Postgres, Airtable, or a Google Sheet via n8n / Make / Zapier. The response is structured JSON — no HTML parsing, no headless browser, no upstream OAuth.

Powering an AI agent (MCP)

The same endpoint is exposed as a tool in the SocialAPIs MCP server, so Claude Desktop / ChatGPT custom integrations / Cursor / any MCP-aware client can call it directly inside a chat. No glue code, no separate auth — the user's API token does both.

Scheduled monitoring & alerts

Schedule a recurring call (cron, GitHub Actions, n8n schedule), diff the latest response against the previous run, and notify Slack / email / Telegram when a meaningful change appears. The response shape is stable across calls so diffs stay reliable.

Backfilling a product feature

If you're building a feature on top of public social data (lead enrichment, brand monitoring, competitive intelligence, resale arbitrage), this endpoint usually replaces a brittle in-house scraper that broke every time Facebook tweaked its HTML. Same dataset, real-time, with an SLA.

Working code example

All SocialAPIs endpoints take your API token in the x-api-token header. Grab yours from your dashboard (or create a free account at /auth/signup — 200 free calls per month, no credit card).

curl -X GET "https://api.socialapis.io/facebook/search/people?query=Michael" \
  -H "x-api-token: YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"

The response is JSON containing the requested data plus a request_id (echo it back in any support email — it lets us pull the matching row from our request log in seconds). Detailed parameter schemas and copy-paste snippets in JavaScript, Python, PHP, Java, and Go are available in the playground above.

Pagination, rate limits, and error handling

Pagination

List-style endpoints return a next_cursor in the response. Pass it back in the next request to walk the full result set. Cursors are stable across calls — safe to persist if you need to resume later.

Rate limits

10 req/min on the Free tier, 100 req/min on Pro / Ultra / Mega, higher dedicated limits on custom plans. Limit hits return HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header — respect it and you'll never see a sustained block.

Errors

4xx = your request (bad params, missing auth, hit limit). 5xx = our side (transient — retry with backoff). Every error response includes error_code, message, and a request_id for support.

Related endpoints in the Search category

These endpoints share the same data model and auth as Facebook Search People. Most real-world integrations combine 2-3 of them.

Facebook Search Pages

Search for Facebook pages by keyword with optional location filtering.

Facebook Search Locations

Search for Facebook locations by keyword. Returns location UIDs for geo-targeted filtering in other search endpoints.

Facebook Search Posts

Search for Facebook posts by keyword with optional location and time filters.

Facebook Search Videos

Search for Facebook videos by keyword with optional recency and live filters.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to register a Facebook app or go through OAuth to use the Facebook Search People endpoint?

No. SocialAPIs handles the upstream auth and infrastructure on our side. You just send a bearer token (your SocialAPIs API token) and call the endpoint. No Facebook app review, no OAuth scope dance, no expiring user access tokens. This is the primary reason most teams move off the Graph API to us.

How much does a single call to this endpoint cost in credits?

One credit per successful response. The exact cost is shown in the dashboard under "Usage" after every call. Failed requests (4xx errors caused by bad input) do not consume credits.

Is the data real-time or cached?

Real-time. Each call fetches from the upstream source at the moment you call us — we don't cache responses between users. The exception is the Ads Library endpoints, which return Meta's own snapshots and therefore lag by 24-48 hours because Meta itself indexes them on that cadence (not us).

Can I use this endpoint inside Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, or another AI agent?

Yes. The SocialAPIs MCP server exposes every endpoint as an MCP tool, so any MCP-aware client (Claude Desktop, the ChatGPT Custom Integrations beta, Cursor, Cline) can call it directly inside a chat. The MCP server uses the same API token as direct HTTP calls, so your credit balance, rate limits, and usage history are unified across surfaces.

What happens if my call fails or returns an unexpected shape?

Every response — success or error — includes a request_id in both the body and the x-request-id header. Email it to support and we can pull the full request log (params, upstream response, timing, error trace) within minutes. We retain the log for 30 days on standard plans and indefinitely on enterprise. Don't ship a workaround for an edge case without checking with us first — it's usually a two-line server fix.

Heads up if you're migrating from the Graph API

Some fields Meta's official Graph API used to return are no longer publicly accessible (page email, exact follower counts on small pages, post audience targeting). Where we can derive them from other public signals, we do; where we can't, the field will be absent from the response (we don't fabricate values). The full list of "what's still returnable in 2026" lives in the docs — start there before assuming a field is broken on our side.

Ready to call Facebook Search People?

Use the playground at the top of this page to send a live request against your account — or grab the curl above and run it from your terminal. Free accounts get 200 calls per month, enough to integrate, prototype, and ship a working demo before deciding whether to upgrade.

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