Graph Search Launched to English-Speaking Users, Privacy Concerns Acknowledged

The Graph Search feature of Facebook was launched to all English-speaking users, while acknowledging privacy concerns, according to Computer World. The social network directs users to its privacy features and, at the same time, expands the search tool that enables people to find various topics and interests across the platform.

Facebook also encourages users to use the Activity Log to review and adjust the persons they have shared their details with, including status updates.

The company launched Graph Search in a beta version to a limited number of people in January. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the feature is in an early stage of development.

“Graph Search is a really big project, and it’s going to take years and years to index the whole map of the graph,” Zuckerberg said back in January.

The tool was thought of as a way for users to search for things they share with their connections and friends. While the company gave examples such as “Friends who live in my city,” or “Hotels in San Francisco visited by my friends,” security experts and users came up with searches such as “Married people who like Prostitutes” or “Mothers of Jews who like Bacon.”

The media and security specialists have also called it “a phishing pool”, “a social engineering nightmare” and even “a public embarrassment.”

The social network reassured users that the tool isn`t dangerous for kids, as information about their age and location will only be shared with their friends` connections if the searcher is no older than 17. However, according to Bitdefender, kids often lie about their age when creating a Facebook profile, so adults and cyber-criminals could too.

Two days ago, Facebook also changed the News Feed, improving the algorithm that determines which stories appear first on users` timeline.