How to see when a Facebook account was created

We rarely notice how quickly time flies, so to some it might seem like Facebook was only introduced less than 10 years ago. Surprise, surprise – Facebook celebrated its 17th anniversary this year and your personal account may be older than you think. If you want to know when your Facebook account was created, we're here to help.

In this guide, we'll walk you through how to access your or someone else's Facebook account creation date. We'll also share instructions for when you've become friends with someone on the platform. In the end, we will explain how to find another user's birthday on Facebook.

How to Know When You've Created Your Own Facebook Account

You can see when your account was created by accessing your Facebook information. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open Facebook through a browser or app and log in to your account.
   
2. Click the down arrow icon in the upper right corner to access your account options.
   
3. Select "Settings and privacy" from the drop-down menu.
   
4. Choose "Your Facebook Information" from the left sidebar.
   
5. Click on “View” next to “Access your information” on the right.
   
6. Select "Personal Information" in the "Your Information" section.
   
7. Look in the "Date your account was created" section to find the date your account was created.
   

Another option to find out when the account was created and your first actions on the platform is through the activity log. To access the activity log, follow the instructions below:

1. Open Facebook and log in to your account.
   
2. Expand the profile options drop-down list by clicking the down icon in the top right.
   
3. Click on “Settings and privacy”, then on “Your Facebook information” located in the left sidebar.
   
4. Click on “Activity Log”.
   
5. Select the earliest date on the timeline on the right.
   
6. Scroll to the end to view your first actions on Facebook, such as likes, comments or profile changes.
   

Alternatively, you can find a welcome email from Facebook if you still have access to the email address you used when signing up. If you set a profile picture right after creating the account, you can also view the date of your first profile picture.

How to Know When Someone Else Created Their Facebook Account

Knowing when someone else joined Facebook isn't as easy as seeing when your own account was created. This is because the account creation date is not shown in the user's profile information. However, there is a way to access this information by scrolling to the end of the user's timeline. Here's how:

1. Open Facebook and log in to your account.
   
2. Click on the icon with two human figures located at the top of the page to access your friends list.
   
3. Scroll through the list to find a user whose account creation date you want to know. You can type their name in the search bar to speed up the process.
   
4. When you open the user's profile, scroll down until you see their first message. You can instantly access posts from a specific year by selecting it in the timeline on the right. The first message may contain the date the account was created, although some users choose to hide their old messages.
   

How do you know when you've become friends with someone on Facebook?

Checking out when you befriended someone on Facebook is interesting and often surprising. To view this information, follow the steps below:

1. Open Facebook in a browser and log in to your account.
   
2. Click on the icon with two human silhouettes located at the top of your screen to open your friends list.
   
3. Scroll until you find the person you are looking for and click on their name. You can also enter their name in the search field.
   
4. Click the three-dot icon next to "Messages" located to the right of the user's profile picture.
   
5. Click on “View Friendship”.
   
6. You'll see the year you became friends on Facebook on the left. You can also see how many mutual friends you have and where the person lives.
   

Alternatively, you can find out the exact date – rather than just the year – you first became friends with someone on Facebook. To do this, you will need to scroll through the activity log. Follow the steps below:

1. Log in to your account and click on your profile icon to open your timeline.
   
2. Click on "Activity Log", located to the right of your profile picture.
   
3. In the left sidebar, select "More".
4. Click "Friends" in the left sidebar.
5. Scroll down the list until you find the date you befriended the user you are looking for. Optionally, select a specific year from the calendar on the right.
   

Old times

Now that you've hopefully found your Facebook account creation date, you may have felt a sense of nostalgia or found some lovely old photos. Sometimes seeing your old posts can be embarrassing, but ultimately, where else could you access such a detailed history of your early life if not on Facebook?

How old is your Facebook account? Let's see who's been on the platform the longest - share your account creation year in the comments section below.