Template:Cite Facebook/doc

A template for citing content posted on Facebook.

Usage

Copy a blank version to use. Almost all parameter names are supported only in lower case (some initialisms, such as |isbn= have upper-case aliases like |ISBN=, which are acceptable for use). Use the "|" (pipe) character between each parameter. Unused parameters may be deleted to avoid clutter in the edit window. Some samples on this documentation page may include the current date. If the date is not current, then the page.

Required parameters only, in horizontal format

{{Cite Facebook |user= |postid= |title= |date=}}

Full parameter set in horizontal format

{{Cite Facebook |author= (or |last= and |first=) |author-link= |user= |postid= |date= |title= |script-title= |trans-title= |language= |location= |access-date= |link= |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |ref=}}

Note: When known, the author's real name should be specified in the |author= parameter (or |last= and |first=). If their real name is not known, then the post is probably not an acceptable usage of a self-published source.

user

The |user= parameter is required to make the link in the citation; this allows the template to update all links to Facebook citations when their URL scheme changes. The |user= value is the string of letters or numbers or periods in the post's stable URL between .com/ and /posts. For instance, if the stable URL is https://www.facebook.com/PETALBELIZE/posts/postid, this template requires |user=PETALBELIZE.

postid

The |postid= parameter is required to make the link in the citation; this allows the template to update all links to Facebook citations when their URL scheme changes. The |postid= value is the string of numbers in the post's stable URL following posts/. For instance, if the stable URL is https://www.facebook.com/user/posts/1496465305840249, this template requires |postid=1496465305840249.

Stable URLs for Facebook posts

As of September 2022, at least, stable URLs to content posted on Facebook are not easily accessible. Now, the easiest URLs to access for Facebook posts are unstable, and follow the scheme: https://www.facebook.com/user/posts/fbid, where fbid is a string of letters and numbers beginning with pfbid. Stable URLs for Facebook posts do not use fbids, and rather follow the scheme: ... /user/posts/postid, where postid is a string of numbers.

Stable URLs for Facebook posts are now most immediately available via the permalink_url field of Facebook's Graph API. A more convoluted (but user-friendly) way to get stable URLs is as follows. For a Facebook post viewed in a web browser:

1. Get the <iframe> code generated by Facebook for it (find and click on Embed, then copy the given code)
   Code looks like: <iframe src="https:// ... ></iframe>
2. Go to the URL given in the src attribute of said code (copy-paste it to the browser's address bar)
   Relevant code snippet looks like: <iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https ... &width=500" width="500" height=" ...
   Relevant URL looks like: https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https ... &width=500
   Post displayed here looks just like that in 1 above
3. Get the URL linked in the timestamp of this post (right-click on timestamp, then click Copy Link Address)
   URL looks like: https://www.facebook.com/user/posts/postid?ref=embed_post
   Do not get the URL linked in the timestamp of the post in 1 above (which uses fbid and so is unstable)

Videos

As of September 2026, stable URLs for videos hosted on Facebook are still easy to access, and follow the scheme: ... /user/videos/postid, or ... /watch/?v=postid, or ... /reel/postid, for postid as above. These are accessible directly from the post in 1 above (copy-paste from the browser's address bar, or get URL linked in timestamp, or find and click on Copy link). As ... /user/posts/postid URLs currently redirect to the former ones, this template may be used to cite videos hosted on Facebook.

Photos

As of September 2026, stable URLs for photos hosted on Facebook are still easy to access, and follow the scheme: ... /photo.php?fbid=postid&set= ..., or ... /photo/?fbid=postid&set= ..., for postid as above. These are accessible directly from the post in 1 above (copy-paste from the browser's address bar, or get URL linked in timestamp). As ... /user/posts/postid URLs currently lead to the same content the former ones do, this template may be used to cite photos hosted on Facebook.

Examples

{{Cite Facebook |user=PETALBELIZE |postid=1496465305840249 |date=24 August 2026 |title=PETAL's forum postponed |access-date=6 September 2026}}

@PETALBELIZE; (24 August 2026). "PETAL's forum postponed". Retrieved 6 September 2026 – via Facebook.

{{Cite Facebook |author=Simone Hill |user=PETALBELIZE |postid=1496465305840249 |date=24 August 2026 |title=PETAL's forum postponed |access-date=6 September 2026}}

Simone Hill [@PETALBELIZE]; (24 August 2026). "PETAL's forum postponed". Retrieved 6 September 2026 – via Facebook.

Error detection

• The parameters |user=, |postid=, |title=, |date= are required. If omitted or left blank, errors will be reported. For example:

  {{Cite Facebook |title=I'm an incomplete citation!}}

  "I'm an incomplete citation!" – via Facebook.

• The post URL depends on |user= and |postid=; if either is missing, the URL defaults to https://www.facebook.com/
• Templates are checked for |ref=harv, which is an error. The |ref= parameter must use {{harvid}} in the value.
• The template also checks for parameters that are unsupported (e.g. misspellings of parameter names).
• Errors are tracked in Category:Cite Facebook templates with errors

TemplateData

This is the TemplateData for this template used by TemplateWizard, VisualEditor and other tools. See a monthly parameter usage report for Template:Cite Facebook in articles based on its TemplateData.

TemplateData for Cite Facebook

A template for citing content posted on Facebook

Template parameters

This template has custom formatting.

Parameter		Description	Type	Status
Post ID	postid	Numeric ID of the post Example 1496465305840249	Line	required
Username	user	Facebook account name, without the @ Example PETALBELIZE	Line	required
Post	title	Partial or entire content of the post, optionally including hashtags (#), at signs (@), and links. Note: double quote marks (") should be replaced with single quote marks (') because the entire title will display surrounded by double quotes. Example PETAL's forum postponed	String	required
First name	first	The first name of the author. If not known, then the post is probably not an acceptable usage of a self-published source (see WP:SPS) Example Simone	Line	suggested
Last name	last	The last name of the author. If not known, then the post is probably not an acceptable usage of a self-published source (see WP:SPS) Example Hill	Line	suggested
Author	author	Author's real name, if known. If not known, then the post is probably not an acceptable usage of a self-published source (see WP:SPS) Example Simone Hill	Line	suggested
Author's article	author-link authorlink	Title of existing Wikipedia article about the author Example Simone Hill	Page name	optional
Date	date	Date of the post; do not wikilink; do not include time.	Date	required
Access date	access-date accessdate	The full date when the post was accessed; do not wikilink	Date	optional
Language	language	The language in which the post is written, if not in English. Example es	Line	optional
Location	location	The location from which a post was sent. Example Belize City	Line	optional
Archive URL	archive-url archiveurl	The URL of an archived copy of a web page, if or in case the URL becomes unavailable; requires 'archive-date'	URL	optional
Archive date	archive-date archivedate	Date when the original URL was archived; do not wikilink	String	optional
URL status	url-status dead-url deadurl	If set to 'live', the title displays as the live link; if set to dead, the title displays as the archive link Suggested values dead live deviated unfit usurped Default dead (when Archive URL given)	Line	optional
Script post	script-title	For post in languages that do not use a Latin-based alphabet (Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc). Prefix with two-character ISO639-1 language code followed by a colon, e.g. for Japanese use: ja:... Example ja:東京タワー	String	optional
Translated post	trans-title	An English language translation, if the post cited is in a foreign language; use of 'language' parameter is recommended	String	optional
Link to Facebook article?	link	Set to "no" to not link to the Wikipedia article for Facebook. Useful for preventing overlinking when more than one post is cited. Suggested values no Default yes Example no	Line	optional
Date format	df	Valid values: dmy, dmy-all, mdy, mdy-all Suggested values dmy dmy-all mdy mdy-all	Line	optional
Anchor	ref	The citation's HTML anchor identifier, when different from its default. To inhibit anchor ID creation, set to "none". Suggested values none	Line	optional

See also

• {{Cite Instagram}}
• {{Cite X}}