Have you wondered how to backup or download the content you have been posting to Facebook?
Perhaps you wish you could keep a copy of the articles you write using Notes, or your family photographs that you uploaded from your mobile phone but never kept a copy of on your phone or your computer?
For sometime I have been using a service to back up my personal profile, but this facility is now available from Facebook for Personal Profiles.
Downloading And Backing Up Your Facebook Personal Profile
You access the download feature by clicking on Account>> Account Settings>> Download Your Information.
Facebook will ask you for authentication to confirm your identity before you can complete the download process - they send an email to the email listed on your Facebook account to confirm that you initiated the process. Once you receive the email, you will have to re-enter your Facebook password and if you are using a public computer or one you do not use regularly, you may also have to solve a friend photo captcha or an SMS captcha via your mobile phone.
You can not select what to download as it is delivered in one file - but here is what you can access:
- Your profile information (e.g., your contact information, interests, groups)
- Wall posts and content that you and your friends have posted to your profile
- Photos and videos that you have uploaded to your account
- Your friend list
- Notes you have created
- Events to which you have RSVP'd
- Your sent and received messages
- Any comments that you and your friends have made on your Wall posts, photos, and other profile content.
Downloading And Backing Up Your Facebook Page
The facility to back up your Fan Page is not yet available from Facebook - so is there an alternative way you can do this you wonder?
A free service I have used for sometime to backup my Facebook Profile is called Backupify and they have a free service for social media accounts.
Personally I think backing up your Fan Page is even more important than backing up your Facebook Profile for the following reasons:
- many businesses are adding unique content to their Facebook Pages to encourage greater engagement
- it is easy to accidentally delete the admins of a Page which then gives you no way to access the Page - I know this has already happened to someone who contacted me after a Facebook for Business Training Course
- with the increase in litigation and employment law cases due to employees posting inappropriate content on Facebook Pages you just may need the content for a case where an employee has breached your social media policy.
Backupify have recently launched a paid service where you can backup your Facebook Page. They even comment on their site that their service will ensure that you:
- Never lose your Facebook Fan Page data - even if your Page is hacked
- Never lose a tagged Photo, Video or Note -even if the original poster removes it from Facebook.
Of course I hope that you will never need to put these backups of your Facebook Profile and facebook Page into use.
And as with any social media site or third party website, always have a backup of your own original media files especially when it comes to audio and video files.
What services do you recommend and use to backup your Facebook Profile and Facebook Page? Can you see a need for such a service?