22 February 2019

How to Find Videos on Facebook


find-video-facebook

It isn’t always easy to find what you’re looking for on Facebook. Confusing menu items and poor search results hide some of the stuff worth looking at. Videos are one of the biggest victims. With that in mind, here’s how to find videos on Facebook.

Understanding Facebook Videos

Video on Facebook is a confusing beast. There are live videos, videos you uploaded, videos you were tagged in, public videos, saved videos, old profile videos, and more.

Facebook being Facebook, there’s not one central hub that lets you view all of this footage in a straightforward and logical manner. Depending on what type of video you want to find, there are a series of different steps you need to work through.

We’re going to work through each type of Facebook video in turn, providing detailed instructions along the way.

How to Find Facebook Live Videos

facebook live hashtag results

At the start of 2019, Facebook unexpectedly killed its Facebook Live map feature.

We’re not sure why. Sure, it wasn’t going to win any design awards, but the map let you quickly find streamers from specific locales; it was a perfect way to see raw footage of developing news stories and public events.

Facebook Live videos have now been rolled up under Facebook Watch. In our opinion, Facebook Watch tries to be too many things at once, and that is to the detriment of Facebook Live videos.

Nonetheless, it is still possible to find Facebook Live videos. There are a few routes open to you:

  • Use the #live hashtag in the search bar.
  • Check a person or page’s video library.
  • Use Facebook’s notification system.

To learn more about the specifics of the methods, read our article on how to watch Facebook Live.

How to Find Your Videos on Facebook

If you’ve had your Facebook profile for several years, there’s a good chance that you’ve amassed hundreds of videos on the platform. Indeed, Facebook might have the only copy of some of your most treasured memories.

To find videos you have uploaded to Facebook, open your profile and go to Photos > Videos. Unless you were organized and categorized your videos into albums at the time, be prepared to get a sore scrolling finger.

Perhaps an easier option is to download all your videos from Facebook in one sitting. To do so, head to Settings > Your Facebook information > Download your information > View and ensure that the checkbox alongside Photos and Videos is marked. When you’re ready, hit Create file.

How to Find Saved Videos on Facebook

facebook saved videos

If you ever watch a video—either from a person, page, or group—that you think you might want to re-watch at a later date, you can save it.

Saving a video on Facebook acts as a bookmark. It will not download the video onto your computer’s hard drive. Instead, it places all your saved videos into a folder on your Facebook account.

If you want to find your saved videos on Facebook from the web app, follow the step-by-step instructions below:

  1. Head to Facebook.com and log into your account
  2. When you’re looking at your newsfeed, expand the Explore menu in the left-hand panel.
  3. Click on Saved.
  4. Alternatively, you can head straight to Facebook.com/saved.
  5. Using the drop-down menu on the top right-hand corner of your list of saved items, click on Videos.

How to Find Old Profile Videos on Facebook

Since mid-2016, Facebook users have been able to add a seven-second looping video to their profile. It displays at the top of your page, just like your profile picture.

You can see your old profile videos by going opening your Photos library, clicking on the Videos album, and scrolling through the entries. Sadly, there isn’t a more accessible way that doesn’t involve endless scrolling; the Photos > Videos approach is Facebook’s official recommended method.

Note: You can only add profile videos from Android and iOS, and the feature is not available in all countries.

How to Find Public Videos on Facebook

makeuseof facebook videos album

There are a couple of alternative ways to find public videos on Facebook.

We’ll start with the most obvious approach. If you know the person, page, or group that uploaded the original video, just head straight to their profile.

If the video is recent, you will be able to find it by scrolling through the wall posts. However, if the content is a little older and has been buried by newer stuff on the wall, click on the Photos tab below the cover image and select the Videos album.

If you cannot find the video, one of two things has probably happened. Either a) the person or page has made the video private and you can no longer view it, orb) the person has moved the video into a new album.

Find Videos You Are Tagged In on Facebook

There’s not a simple button you can click to see all the videos you have ever been tagged in.

The easiest way is to find the videos is to use the Activity Log. Head to your profile and click on the Activity Log icon in the bottom right-hand corner of your cover photo.

From the Activity Log, select Photos and Videos in the left-hand panel.

Find Videos Using Facebook’s Search Bar

facebook videos search list of suggestions

By now, you’re probably fed up of reading all the different steps to find Facebook videos. To alleviate some of the stress, remember you can use the Facebook search bar to help you locate the footage you want.

The search bar is “smart.” It means you can type in terms such as “Videos I am tagged in,” “Videos from my birthday,” or “Videos from my holiday in Rome” and see the results.

The danger of using the search bar is that you might overlook the video you want due to the sheer scale of results on some search queries, but it’s got to be better than trawling through endless menus.

Learn More About Facebook Videos

Hopefully, you now understand all the different ways that you can find videos on Facebook. Let us know in the comments about any methods we overlooked.

And if you would like to learn more about using videos on Facebook, make sure you check out our articles on how to watch Facebook videos on your TV and how to download private Facebook videos.

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