Privacy Settings for the New Facebook Graph Search

Facebook has introduced a new search feature called Graph Search. It’s an exciting feature with all kinds of potential, but what exactly is now searchable on Facebook?

For starters, Graph Search will focus on People, Places, Photos and Interests. It turns personal information you have entered and shared on Facebook into a robust, searchable database.

With Graph Search, you can look up anything shared with you on Facebook, and others can find stuff you’ve shared with them, including content set to Public.

Searchable information

• Find people based on things they’ve shared with you, including their interests and profile info.
• Find friends by location.
• Find photos you and your friends have posted or been tagged in, including photos hidden from timeline.
• Discover things like restaurants and music through your friends and connections.

Privacy choices

Graph Search raises a new set of privacy concerns, and although Facebook doesn’t allow you to opt out of search, your privacy choices determine what’s searchable.

To edit your privacy settings, click on the gears icon located in the top menu bar to the right of your name and choose “Privacy Settings”.

• Who can see your future posts? – Change to “Friends Only”. You can also limit the audience for your past posts.
• Review all things and posts you’re tagged in – Click on “Use Activity Log”, “Posts you’re tagged in”, and un-tag at will. Be aware that the person who tagged you will be notified of the un-tag. To avoid this headache in the future, go back to the “Privacy Settings” page, click on “Timeline and Tagging”, and under “Who can add things to my Timeline”, switch “Review posts friends tag you in before they appear on your Timeline” to ON.
• Check your likes – Graph Search searches your likes so go through and delete liberally. I deleted over 200 likes. You’d be surprised at some of the the stuff you liked on Facebook three or four years ago.

Facebook Graph Search is in limited beta right now, giving you an opportunity to ramp up your privacy settings before it’s widely available. The promising search feature will probably encompass a wider swath of your information in subsequent updates so remember to review your setting occasionally to make sure that the information you share is the information you want to be found.

UPDATE: Still not convinced that you need to update your privacy setting and clean up your Likes? Check out the Actual Facebook Graph Searches Tumblr.

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