Researching Your Friends’ Music Likes Without Facebook’s Graph Search

Facebook announced an intriguing new search method called Graph Search that lets you find out which people who like your favorite band also live in your town, among many, many other things. However, you probably can’t use it yet.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the new feature will roll out “very slowly,” so don’t start looking for that telltale blue search bar on the top of your Facebook screen just yet. However, using the same technique we discovered for unfriending fans of horrible bands – originally designed specifically for Nickelback (one of the worst bands in the world) – it’s possible to see which of your friends are fans of something today, before Facebook Graph Search rolls out.

Before trying the below steps, which are mostly borrowed from that original tutorial, first try the simple approach: Just go to the Facebook page for the thing you’re wondering about, and look for the module that says “X Friends Like Y.” Here’s what that looks like for me on The Rolling Stones’ Facebook page:

In that case, you just click the link for Friends, and you’ll see each of your friends who like the thing. However, that module doesn’t always seem to show up — and even if it does, it won’t render an actual web page you can send around to your friends so they can see who of their friends like the thing. And you can’t bookmark it, if that’s something you’re trying to do.

If, for whatever reason, you’re trying to generate a link that will show you or anyone else which of their friends likes a recording artist or any other entity on Facebook, do the following:

1. Think of something.

This should be a thing about which you are wondering: Which of my friends have liked this on Facebook? It could be a band, a brand of hot sauce, or whatever. Let’s try it with Tabasco, even though this is a digital music publication, just to show that it works with anything with a Facebook page.

2. Grab the name from the Facebook URL.

Search Facebook for the thing in question, go to its Facebook page, and look at their URL in your browser’s address bar. In the case of Tabasco, it is:

https://www.facebook.com/tabasco

3. Copy that last bit and paste it into this URL.

You want to copy everything after “facebook.com/” in the URL — in this case, that’s:

tabasco

4. Paste it onto the end of this URL:

https://graph.facebook.com/

so that it looks like this:

https://graph.facebook.com/tabasco

Paste that URL into your browser’s address bar.

5. You will see a bunch of stuff that looks like this. Don’t worry, it’s about to get easier.

{
"about": "Welcome to the TABASCO\u00ae Facebook page. Let your fellow fans know what your favorite TABASCO\u00ae flavor is and what you splash it on!",
"company_overview": "TABASCO\u00ae brand products are made by McIlhenny Company, founded in 1868 on Avery Island, Louisiana. It is still family-owned and operated on that very site.\n\nOver 140 years later, TABASCO\u00ae brand Original Red Sauce is made much the same way and is labeled in 22 languages and dialects, sold in over 160 countries and territories, added to soldiers\u2019 rations, and put on restaurant tables around the globe. It is the most famous, most preferred pepper sauce in the world.\n\n",
"is_published": true,
"location": {
"street": "Hwy 329",
"city": "Avery Island",
"state": "LA",
"country": "United States",
"zip": "70513"
},
"mission": "Since 1868, the McIlhenny family has been committed to premium products that enliven the flavor of food.\n\nOur mission is to assure that our TABASCO\u00ae diamond provides uncompromising quality.\n\n",
"products": "Pepper sauces in the TABASCO\u00ae brand Family of Flavors\u00ae:\nTABASCO\u00ae Original Red Sauce\nTABASCO\u00ae Chipotle Sauce\nTABASCO\u00ae Green Jalape\u00f1o Sauce \nTABASCO\u00ae Habanero Sauce\nTABASCO\u00ae Garlic Pepper Sauce\nTABASCO\u00ae SWEET & Spicy Sauce\nTABASCO\u00ae Buffalo Style Hot Sauce \n\nLearn more!\nAbout TABASCO\u00ae brand Pepper Sauce flavors:\nhttp://tabasco.com/tabasco-products/\nRecipes and great food ideas:\nhttp://tabasco.com/tabasco-recipes/\nAbout McIlhenny Company:\nhttp://tabasco.com/mcilhenny-company/\nBuy all TABASCO\u00ae brand Products online:\nhttp://countrystore.tabasco.com/\nTABASCO\u00ae Foodservice:\nhttp://www.TABASCOfoodservice.com",
"talking_about_count": 6740,
"username": "tabasco",
"website": "www.TABASCO.com",
"were_here_count": 0,
"category": "Food/beverages",
"id": "95093993767",
"name": "Tabasco",
"link": "https://www.facebook.com/tabasco",
"likes": 805437,
"cover": {
"cover_id": "10150665895293768",
"source": "http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/s720x720/548132_10150665895293768_74815_n.jpg",
"offset_y": 0
}
}

5. You are looking for the “id.”

Nevermind the rest of that code — you want the page’s Facebook ID. This will be about a third of the way down the graph.facebook.com page. It will look like this:

6. Copy the band’s Facebook ID.

In the case of LMFAO, the “id” we select and copy is:

95093993767

7. Paste that onto the end of this URL.

https://www.facebook.com/browse/friended_fans_of/?page_id=

so that it looks like this:

https://www.facebook.com/browse/friended_fans_of/?page_id=95093993767

8. Go to that URL.

In the case of our example, that means going here.

9. Now you can see all the people who like the band you hate.

I have blurred the faces and names of my two Tabasco-swilling friends, but you will be able to see yours:

Again, you might be able to see this list by going to the page for something; but if you want a URL that you can bookmark or pass around, this is the best way to do it that we have found.