Facebook recently announced the latest addition to its social network, the social graph search engine. When introducing it on Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg called it “the third pillar of the Facebook Ecosystem”.
What is Graph Search?
According to Facebook, the social graph is the name given to the collective pool of information shared between friends that are connected via the site, including things such as photos, status updates, and location data as well as the things they have liked.
Graph Search allows users to make search of content shared by their friends and other people on Facebook. It is aiming for the areas neglected by current players (Google, Bing, and LinkedIn) in the search game; Social Search.
Zuckerberg described it as a new way to search between Facebook’s massive amount of photos, people, and connections. Facebook digs into the large database of personal data and photos that it has from a billion people. It mines 240 billion photos and a trillion connections between its users.
Possible searches a user could make
With the new feature users will be able to find people who share similar interests e.g. If one wants to start a boozers club or find a beer buddy? Explore the world through photos, by searching a phrase like the following:
- photos my friends took in Harare
- Pictures of my friends and me
- Males and Females nearby that are 30 years old
- Photos taken in 2010 that I liked
- Music that my friends and I like
- People that like Techzim
- Which of my friends like Tuku
Privacy Concerns
Facebook claims that 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.
Others beg to differ, they see it as further invasion of our private space and will lead people to stalk exes, and search for things such as “vulnerable women near me who’ve been dumped in the last few weeks” and “pictures of my friends’ female friends in bikinis”.
A tad extreme I know but the possibility is there.
Security Concerns
Some experts have expressed reservations that the new search mechanism is a gold mine for phishing attacks. Attackers could use the Facebook Graph Search to narrow down specific targets, and customize emails or Facebook messages using compelling details about their lives, their friends, the things that interest them and the places they’ve visited.
The new tool takes data that was already out there and makes it easier for attackers to collect similar targets for a more customized attack.
When will you get it?
Graph search launched as a beta test, but roll out will be slow. It still isn’t public, and you’ll need to sign up for the wait list here to get early access.
Coincidentally, another relic of the social networking world MySpace relaunched to the public on the same day, but the event was over shadowed by Facebook’s event.
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9 comments
If they r going to force everyone on this like they did with timeline, then i will de-register my Facebook account!
i think there will be options to opt out information you don’t want to be searchable.
Dont you just love ccompetition? lol
Whatever u feel is too personal or private, do not share it. Once you upload something on the internet, cant delete it. Consider it public.
Very true. I used to overlook that until i Googled my name one day…and i was flabbergasted! I have since de-registered from twitter, linkedin, G+ and a dozen more such networks! And i no longer sign up on any new networks, no matter how good they sound…
Googling yourself does help to see what is out there on you. Dare to go on the images part of the search i found my pic! But just one. Am so freakishly paranoid, I have the most extreme privacy settings on. I use LinkedIn alot but am not searchable. I disabled searchability of my G+. On twitter, my handle isnt my name. Same goes for all forums except the very first forum I posted in using my name. Otherwise, Google has nothing on me! On Facebook, if you’re my friend, I will find you. Am not searchable.
Googling yourself does help to see what is out there on you. Dare to go on the images part of the search i found my pic! But just one. Am so freakishly paranoid, I have the most extreme privacy settings on. I use LinkedIn alot but am not searchable. I disabled searchability of my G+. On twitter, my handle isnt my name. Same goes for all forums except the very first forum I posted in using my name. Otherwise, Google has nothing on me! On Facebook, if you’re my friend, I will find you. Am not searchable.
The concept alone is really bad. Nobody shares that much info on Facebook…Its not like every person that enjoys bike riding has “Liked” it or shared it on their Facebook..Not forgetting you can only have 4000 friends. And im not up for receiving random messages from friends of friends of friends inviting me to do stuff. The chances of you finding good candidates for any random activity (or search string) amongst your friends are close to NONE!
I think Facebook as a social network has the ability to do a lot but at the same time they are TOO MUCH of a social network, they focus so much on that till they can’t visualize or conceptualize ANYTHING outside of social networking…. People should consider selling all their FB stock the next time it rises above $30 because their mobile ad business model is also quite pathetic….They are mistaking the mobile platform to be somewhat the same as the desktop, when its not…
On the other hand, Mu-Office is coming soon, so you’re better off investing in that. Contact me on shaun@n-sho.com to stay updated! 😀
[…] Facebook launched its latest product, a ‘Search Engine’ at a function in California, USA, earlier this week. The facility, titled ‘Graph Search’, is rather more of a Search Engine but only for content resident on the Social Networking site and its possible functionalities were explained in an article on this platform yesterday. […]