What is Facebook Numeric ID?

Facebook Numeric ID number is a set of unique numbers auto-assigned to each Facebook user to identify his or her profile in the Facebook Network. This Numeric ID is auto-created once you signup for your Facebook account. You have a Numeric ID created automatically, whether or not you choose to create a customized username. Anyone with this Numeric ID can access your profile, provided you have explicitly given the permission under privacy settings, for linking your Facebook profile, including any public information of your Facebook account, to any search performed by an external search engine.

What is use of Facebook Numeric ID ?

The primary use of Facebook Numeric ID is to refer to a specific item. It could be a user’s profile picture or any other single picture uploaded on Facebook. Therefore if you know the Facebook Numeric ID (FBID), you can view it easily replacing "<fbid>" with the actual FBID at www.facebook.com/<fbid>, or simply at fb.com/<fbid>. There is no need to edit FBID in the more structured URL displayed on Facebook (www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=xxx&set=yyy or /JaveedKareem/posts/zzz).
Following are various other uses of FBID. You can find FBID of a post or picture by copying the permalink of that particular content and searching it at fbnumericid.com, for any user, page, or group.

  • Better user search - Searching a user by name, can accumulate long search results since the person's name can be shared by many users. But searching a person or user through FBID will give apt results.
  • Finding pictures and conversations - All picture uploaded or shared on Facebook is assigned a URL link as well as the uploader's Numeric Facebook ID or FBID. However, newer uploads wont have this FBID after a certain time period. So, in case you want to find out about a picture along with the conversation (comments, likes etc.), FBID comes handy in retrieving the profile of the uploader / user along with the details of conversation thread, provided you have the neccessary permission to view the thread.
  • Better user experience - User experience can be personalized on various apps or websites, by connecting to your Facebook account. The apps or websites access your public information, like your Facebook profile, pictures, comments, friend list etc. and create a better user experience through personalized content. Another use of Facebook Numeric ID is to allow developers to access data, when you get stuck in breakdown issues with apps. Your Facebook Numeric ID can thus help in understanding and resolving the issue.

When is Facebook Numeric ID assigned?

Facebook Numeric ID is assigned to a user when he or she creates an account on Facebook. Facebook automatically assigns a unique Numeric Identification number to any new user that joins Facebook. This Numeric ID is used to not only locate the user in the Facebook eco-sytem, but for many other functions like user’s profile pictures or other image displays, content of user’s Wall posts etc. Even Facebook friend requests feature use this Numeric ID to perform the operation. Thus on Facebook, most of the content is assigned a Numeric ID (FBID).

Scope of FBID

Facebook Numeric ID or FBID can broadly be categorised into following;

  • Top-level types, wherein each item has an FBID assigned -
    • Person (a.k.a. profile, user, timeline)
    • Page
    • Event
    • Group
  • Types that are attached to a top-level item, wherein each item has an FBID assigned -
    • Status update (a text post)
    • Photo
    • Video
    • Album
  • Types of items that do not bear FBID -
    • Comment (which is linked to a status/photo/video/album)
    • Like
    • The news feed
    • Messages in private messaging
    • File attachments in private messaging

What is Facebook Numeric ID or FBID look like?

Following are the examples of how a public Facebook Numeric ID or FBID look like for most of the content on Facebook. Please note that this not an exhaustive list.

  • https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=45451451
  • https://www.facebook.com/pages/outdoorPhotography/45451253121
  • https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=13156456112312&set=a.45451451.167300.45451253154
  • https://www.facebook.com/outdoorPhotography/posts/13156456112312