Exclusive: How To Find Hidden Facebook Photos
April 22, 2015 | Technology
Facebook profiles are increasingly bare of information with users electing to implement strong privacy options to keep people from snooping on them.
But there is a trick in viewing 'hidden' photographs of many users.
Professional Investigators (and amateur sleuths) use Facebook regularly in an attempt to obtain information that may assist a case, or simply satisfy one's curiosity. It's no surprise given Facebook boasts almost 1.5 billion users worldwide.
Social media users are more aware of the risks posed by posting personal information, and over the past few years, there have been “brutal reminders” that you can get in big trouble for what you post on Facebook.
In the early days of Facebook, a user's profile was a treasure trove of information, with Investigators able to identify a person's workplace, contact details, frequented places and much more. However, these days, even if you are able to locate a person, there is often absolutely nothing available to see, with all key identifying information hidden behind strong privacy settings.
But all is not lost.
If you locate the Facebook profile of a user who reveals little information, there are two possibilities: 1) the person does not use Facebook all that often, or 2) the owner of the profile turned on some privacy features that limit information to certain groups of people like friends.
So what can be done?
There are tricks and tips that you can use to 'mine' Facebook. Information such as places visited or where the user has 'checked in', along with photos commented on can be found. But the most useful is revealing the photos that the person has been tagged in by other users.
Introducing a Google Chrome Extension called PictureMate. Once installed, you open the Facebook profile of the person concerned and click the button in your browser. You will then be presented with the hidden photos that have been uploaded and tagged by other people, even if the user has set his privacy settings to not show any photos.
Here's an example:
Profile (above) of a user with strict privacy settings. No identifiable photos to view.
Profile (above) of the same user after activating PictureMate.
There you have it. A handy little trick to find hidden Facebook photos.
