Facebook recently unveiled their Graph Search tool that uses information shared on the social networking site and turns it into a searchable database. The feature is currently available to a limited number of people and you will have to apply to be added to the waiting list, if you wish to join the waiting lists, you can do so here.
This feature will allow you to search for information on Facebook using more defined questions and phrases such as “Photos taken in Nairobi,” this query will be able to display all publicly shared photos that were taken in Nairobi. Photos from both your friends and from people you have not connected with will be displayed as long as they have been shared publicly or specifically with you.
With this feature, you can also search for people who you share a common interest with and who live in the same city as you using a query such as “people who like technology and live in Nairobi.”
Facebook claims that this new tool respects users’ privacy settings and people using the tool will only see what you have allowed them to see and access. Facebook added, “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. That means different people see different results,”
Even though Facebook has assured users of their privacy, there are about three things that users need to do to ensure that they are aware and comfortable with the information about them that can be found using this search tool
Change you post privacy settings
Below every status update box, there is a small toggle next to the post button that you can use to set who you want the status update or photo to be shared with. You can set it to share with Public, Friends, only you or custom set it to share with specific friends.
You will have to determine who you would like to see that status update or photo you are sharing, if you are comfortable with anyone seeing it, you can select the “public” option otherwise you should choose the “Friends” option to share with your friends only.
Change your photos privacy options
With Facebook’s new Graph Search tool, users can search and find you using your photos by location where they were taken or when they were uploaded, for example a user may search for “Photos taken at KICC in 2012.” This query will display all publicly shared photos or photos shared with that particular user taken in 2012 at KICC, Photos that you have been tagged in will also show up in the search results. To ensure you do not share too much with strangers, you can go to your account’s Activity Log (found under Privacy shortcuts button next to “Home” button on the top right corner) and change your Photos default sharing options.
Unlike some pages
Facebook Graph Search can be used to search for people who like certain pages using a query like “people who like (insert page name),”so it is a good idea to unlike pages that you may have liked sometime before but you do not want to be associated with them at the moment.