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The Truth About Facebook Graph Search (Part 1)

7/21/2013 9:11:39 AM

Davey W. investigates privacy concerns over Facebook’s Graph Search and finds them a trifle overwrought

Much has been written about Facebook taking on Google, some of it from my own keyboard. The rumor mill swung into action towards the end of last year, when Mark Zuckerberg said the social network was already fulfilling a billion searches every day, that it is “uniquely positioned to answer a lot of questions people have”, and that developers were working on Facebook search.

Google searches for the most popular pages as determined by the quantity of global links

Google searches for the most popular pages as determined by the quantity of global links

If you were expecting a standalone search engine, however – a Google-beating enterprise, no less – then you’re about to be disappointed. The end result of all that work on search within the depths of Facebook HQ has started being rolled out in beta form and goes under the name of Facebook Graph Search. It’s new, and it’s very interesting, since it down stuff Google can’t do, but it sure isn’t all that controversial – at least not when taken at face value (although you might be led to believe otherwise by all the bad press it’s receiving from the privacy protection lobby).

I’m not quite sure why Facebook opted to throw Zuckerberg’s favorite buzzword, “graph”, into the title of this resource, because it doesn’t actually “graph” anything. What it does it make connections between people, places, postings, photos and so on. Whereas Google searches for the most popular pages as determined by the quantity of global links (among other factors, but let’s try to keep it simple), Facebook uses its own Likes as the hooks with which to retrieve search results.

Of course, that’s oversimplification. Graph Search goes way further than merely creating charts of the most-liked things on Facebook; it creates connections between those things and people you know, people they know, the places they visit and the information they’ve divulged to Facebook by way of their profile data.

So, for example, if I search on Google for somewhere to eat in Sydney, I’ll receive a list of the most popular restaurants. I can filter those results by being more precise with my search string – so I could ask for somewhere to eat in a particular area of Sydney, or a restaurant that serves a particular type of cuisine, but that’s pretty much the limit as far as Google is concerned. Facebook, on the other hand, goes off at a new tangent of search opportunities: what about restaurants your friends have visited in Sydney, or those your married friends have visited, or restaurants in Sydney they actually liked? It gets better: ask Facebook Graph Search for restaurants nearby and, if you have location tracking turned on, it bases hits on that data. You can also ask for photos taken by your friends at nearby restaurants.

The new Facebook Graph Search will be rolled out soon, but is it a really privacy threat?

The new Facebook Graph Search will be rolled out soon, but is it a really privacy threat?

How well this works depends on a number of things, not least how wide your social circle is and how many of your friends use the check-in feature, location services or hit the Like button regularly.

One of the primary reasons, if not the primary reason, for using a social network is to socialize – that is, to share and exchange information. Facebook Graph Search takes this functionality into a whole new realm by connecting you, via natural language search queries, with other people based upon what they’ve shared, who they’ve shared it with, what their interests are and so on. But the data searched, and the information returned as a results, isn’t limited to only your friends; the friends of those friends will be included (as well any Facebook member, for that matter) if their data is relevant and they have their privacy options set accordingly to allow such usage.

And this is the reason why, once again, a Facebook “invasion of privacy” debate has kicked off so heatedly. Now, I might have a modestly sized privacy bee flying around in my own bonnet, but getting hot under my mixed-metaphorical collar about Facebook Graph Search isn’t something I intend to do soon. For one thing, everyone you haven’t blocked on Facebook has always been able to search for you on Facebook, so there’s no change there. What those people can see about you as a result of their searches will depend entirely on what’s shared with them, either as friends, friends of friends, or members of the public – all options that are under your control as determined in your privacy settings. Facebook Search continues to respect your privacy settings, so why all the fuss now?

Everyone you haven’t blocked on Facebook has always been able to search for you on Facebook

Everyone you haven’t blocked on Facebook has always been able to search for you on Facebook

The answer to that question appears to be “Because Graph Search makes it easier to find stuff you might not want people to see”, which isn’t a good reason to object. Are we really saying we want a Facebook search engine that doesn’t work too well? I don’t think so: what we should really be doing is praising Facebook for adding more functionality to this free site that we all use of our own volition. Nobody is forcing anyone to use Facebook against their will. The lesson to be learned is that privacy on Facebook is, largely, in your control. Which takes us to the most basic of privacy principles – namely that “if you don’t want people to know you like One Direction, don’t declare your love for them in a Facebook post”, followed by “take time to go through your settings and Activity Log to ensure your privacy configuration is to your liking”.

By using the Activity Log, you can even find where people outside your social network have tagged you in a photo and request the tag be removed. I realize that’s a problem for some, but at least Facebook gives you a mechanism to request removal, something that can’t be said for the rest of the web. The only argument against Facebook that stands up is that, before it announced the Graph Search rollout, it quietly removed an option to opt out of search results completely. Facebook reckons that only a “single-digit percentage” of users had opted for this, but that still means something like 10 million people who didn’t want to be visible to Facebook searches now will be.

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