By Thomas Hair
Opinions Editor
Facebook has evolved a lot since the days when it was based out of Mark Zuckerberg’s house as a network for college students. With more and more competitors popping up in the social networking marketplace, Facebook must constantly come up with new, innovative features to stay on the cutting edge and avoid a fate similar to MySpace’s.
In February 2013, Facebook will begin rolling out its new “Graph Search” feature to users worldwide. The Graph Search’s interface is similar to a search engine, allowing users to search through content quickly and more in-depth. The new tool allows you to search for very specific content, such as “People who like rock music in Seattle, Washington” or “Photos I have Liked” or “Videos of Amanda in 2009”.
Like the Facebook Timeline, the Graph Search is reinventing the Facebook experience with technology and features not found anywhere else. Yet, even though the Graph Search will undoubtedly be a huge help to the average Facebooker, online privacy advocates are concerned. Graph Search will give you greater insight as you search, but it also gives others – potentially strangers – more insight into what you post.
The privacy settings of all your old posts will still hold effect in Graph Search. If you made your statuses and posts available only to friends, then only they will be able to see them in their searches. However, if you have not specified privacy restrictions on any of your previous postings or tagged photos, they will be viewable to any Facebook user who searches for them. Once Graph Search is applied to your account, which is inevitable, you cannot opt out of it.
This makes it more important than ever to be cautious with your online activity. Stalkers and even your employers can now view your content with one quick search – unless you maintain tighter privacy controls on your account. Have fun playing with the newest Facebook feature, but be aware of how it affects your privacy.
Go here to place your account on the priority waiting list for Graph Search.
