Facebook Graph Search – what you need to know

The Facebook Graph Search tool is being rolled out to US users this week and most users across the globe will see prompts to check their privacy settings this week.

So it’s the perfect opportunity to quickly recap what all of the fuss is about and to provide some links to some previous articles we have already written on the subject. Here we explain what Graph Search is, why you should be aware of its capabilities and provide helpful links and information from previous posts.

For those that don’t know exactly what the Graph Search is, it’s Facebooks latest – and most advanced – way of letting Facebook users search the Facebook website, such as the ability to search for users and any-and-all public information about them available on the site. It will replace the basic search tool currently at the top of most Facebook user’s pages.

Now the Graph Search is a very advanced search tool, allowing Facebook users to perform much more detailed and varied searches than they could before, and whilst it does not make your private information accessible, what it DOES do it make your public information so much more easy to find. Basically, any public information about you on Facebook that you thought could be buried or long forgotten is now only a search away.

So… what we’ve been recommending to our readers is to check their privacy settings to ensure they’re set to “friends only”, and to check out what public information they have out there in Facebook cyberspace, and remove it if necessary.

So… get those privacy settings correct!

Because public information on Facebook is going to be very, very accessible with Facebook Graph search you’ll want to make sure everything you post onto the site is visible to your trusted friends only. Even if you think that the stuff you post onto Facebook is worthless or does not require any privacy, it is worth remembering that the most innocuous of information can still be a goldmine for criminals – check out this post called ”3 things you probably didn’t know about Facebook privacy…and probably should” and read point number 2!

Not only can Graph Search provide ample opportunities for criminals, but those weird stalkers are probably going to love it too, as it provides them a better chance of getting information about you. We’ve discussed how Graph Search can help those strange ones on Facebook in our article here – ”Facebook Graph Search – a Stalkers Best Friend”

So, get those privacy settings right and make sure the information you post and upload to Facebook cannot be seen my the stalkers and criminals of the Facebook world! Learn how to lock down your account by reading our article here on sorting out your Facebook privacy settings.

Check your other public content

Locking down your own account is not enough because that doesn’t not affect information pertaining to you that your friends upload onto Facebook, namely photos and videos! If your friends upload the content then it is their privacy settings that control it’s visibility on Facebook.

Not only can this be good to the criminals and stalkers we discussed above, but unruly photos of you floating around the public arena of Facebook can have many other dire consequences as well. For example they can reflect poorly on your professional reputation, and can be a nightmare for job seekers who are facing a reality involving employers who increasingly use social media to check up on potential candidates. Check out our article on Facecrooks about how Facebook graph search can be detrimental to potential jobseekers here!

So, make sure you’re public content is in check! Doing this is simple, we’ve even created a simple step-by-step image for you below!

Also check out our article ”3 things to do before Facebook Graph Search arrives” here that goes over some of these steps again and also recommends turning on Timeline review to preview what appears on your timeline before it appears there!

One more thing – the Facebook graph app search does not allow people to see your content once your friends comment or like your content, despite the claims made in a very popular rumour that instructs users to uncheck criteria from their friend’s settings. This rumour is completely bogus and you can read more about it here.

We hope this page has provided you with enough information to keep yourself safe and secure for when Graph Search comes knocking at your door! And remember the most important piece of advice we can give – if you absolutely cannot chance something falling into the wrong hands then don’t upload it to Facebook!