How to copy Facebook comments
On a computer
- Open the post on facebook.com, ideally from your Page.
- Change the filter above the comments from "Most relevant" to "All comments". "Most relevant" can hide some comments, which would make the draw unfair.
- Click "View more comments" until no more load, and open the replies if they should count.
- Select from the first comment to the last, copy with Ctrl+C or Cmd+C, and paste here. Names, "Top fan" and "Author" badges, timestamps and the Like and Reply buttons are recognised in the 14 languages of this site.
On a phone
The Facebook app isn't made for copying a whole comment thread. Open the post in your phone's browser instead, or do the draw on a computer.
Facebook shows the names people use on their profile, and two people can have the same name. If that happens, untick "One entry per user" or check the profiles before you draw. Add your Page's name under "Leave out these accounts" so your own replies don't count.
Meta's rules for promotions on Facebook
When we checked Meta's Pages, Groups and Events policies, the promotions section said that if you run a contest or giveaway on a Page, you are responsible for running it lawfully, entrants must release Meta from liability and be told the promotion isn't sponsored, endorsed or administered by Meta, and the promotion must not require or reward sharing, reposting or tagging others. That is why this picker has no "must tag friends" filter. Read the current text before you launch, and see our guide to giveaway rules on Instagram and Facebook.
How the draw works
- Reading the paste. The picker goes through the pasted text line by line. It recognises timestamps, like counts, badges and buttons such as Reply in the 14 languages of this site, and treats the line above each comment as the username. You see every entry it found before anything is drawn.
- Applying your settings. Unticked rows, excluded accounts and comments without the required word are left out. With one entry per user, only the first qualifying comment from each account counts.
- Drawing. If N entries are left, each entry has a 1 in N chance of being picked first. The picker uses a Fisher-Yates shuffle with your browser's cryptographic random number generator, without the rounding bias of a simple modulo. Nobody can win twice: once someone is picked, the next place is drawn from the entries of everyone else. Reserve winners are drawn the same way, after the winners.
Read how to pick a giveaway winner for closing times, re-draws and announcing the winner.
Why many brands run the entry on their own page
A comment gives you a username and nothing else. You can't email a username, and a comment is not consent to marketing. If you post the giveaway on Facebook but put the entry on your own page, each entry comes with an email address, the consent people choose to give you and one clean list. In Scratcher, people play a game or fill in a form, duplicate entries are stopped at the door and the winners are drawn automatically. See how it works for social media campaigns, plan the post itself with the giveaway post planner, or use the random winner picker for any other list.
