Facebook Graph Search: How Members Can Take Steps to Protect Privacy

As Graph Search continues to roll out to all U.S. English Facebook users this week, privacy concerns are beginning to crop up.

Graph Search, Facebook’s own personal search engine, allows members to receive personalized results based on the keywords and phrases used in each query.

For instance, using Graph Search, you can type in queries like: NFL fans who live nearby? Photos of Toronto, Canada? Friends who live in Boston? Good Chinese restaurants in Chicago? and get answers based on your social circle.

“Graph Search results are personalized and unique for everyone, based on what has been shared with them,” Facebook says. “For example, if you search for ‘Photos of San Francisco,’ you’ll see photos your friends took there and shared with you, as well as Public photos. This means if someone else does the same search, they’re going to see different results because they have different friends, and different photos have been shared with them.”

If you are concerned about how Graph Search will impact your privacy, you should review your privacy settings, Facebook suggests, adding that these choices “determine what your friends see when they search.”

Facebook Search works hand-in-hand with members’ privacy settings, so it is easy to change who information is shared with, says Julia Tang, of Facebook’s Search team.

To alter who you are sharing with, go to the ‘about’ section of your Timeline and click edit.

“You can also go to your activity log to manage your overall activity on Facebook including what you’ve shared like photos or tags of you,” Tang says. “For example, from activity log, click on photos on the left, then click on photos of you to see all the photos you are tagged in. Using the dropdown menu on the top right corner, you can see which photos are hidden or visible on your timeline. Remember, hidden photos still appear elsewhere on Facebook such as on friend’s Timelines or on search.”

The audience icon next to each tagged photo reveals who can see your photos in search and news feed.

If you don’t want a particular photo to appear on Facebook, select the offending photo and click ‘report/remove tags’ in the top right-hand corner. Click the top option to untag yourself from the picture or click the bottom option if you want to untag the photo and also ask the poster to take it down.

Also, don’t forget to select the sharing category each time you post on Facebook. You can choose your audience by selecting the audience icon and then clicking on privacy. You then choose from the following options.

• Only Me — Meaning no one else can find the post in search;

• Friends — Friends will see it in their search results;

• Public — Anyone who searches for it can find it;

• Custom — Allows you to choose which of your friends can see the post.

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Facebook Graph Search: How Members Can Take Steps to Protect Privacy

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Source: http://www.sitepronews.com/2013/07/09/facebook-graph-search-how-members-can-take-steps-to-protect-privacy/