Facebook Assures Users That Graph Search Safe For Minors

Facebook has alleviated fears that its new Graph Search engine might be unsafe for users between thirteen and seventeen.

Graph Search, Facebook’s new comprehensive search engine that can access and discover information in its “Social Graph” based on the queries of its users is slowly being rolled out to servers in the United States.

Due to the amount of information users enter into Facebook, many have been concerned that Graph Search will invade their privacy. When Graph Search was announced, Facebook made it very clear that it could only be used to see information shared with the searcher or the public in general.

In a safety announcement last week, Facebook said minors will have the same restrictions on Graph Search as on every other part of Facebook:

As with all of our products, we designed Graph Search to take into account the unique needs of teens on Facebook. On Facebook, many things teens are likely to do - such as adding information to their timelines or sharing status updates - can only be shared with a maximum of Friends of Friends. In addition, for certain searches that could help to identify a young person by age or by their location, results will only show to that person's Friends, or Friends of Friends who are also between the age of 13-17.

Facebook also offers three safety tips for Graph Search users:

• Manage Your Activity Log: Activity log makes it easy to see the things you’ve posted on Facebook, make changes to the audience of past photos and other posts, and choose what appears on your Timeline. We recently announced some new tools that make it easier to take action on multiple photos, such as untagging them, or requesting that they are removed with one click.If you are ever concerned who can see content you have posted or shared on Facebook, review it on your Activity Log.
• Review About Me: In addition to your Activity Log, review the 'About' tab to check any basic info you have shared with others on your profile, such as your current city, your workplace, Pages you like, or your education. The same people who can see this info on your profile can search for this info about you. Check this section to make sure you are comfortable with the audience you have chosen to share this information with.
• Reporting:  As always, do not hesitate to report any abusive content you see on Facebook in the report links throughout site.

You can sign up for the Graph Search preview waiting list here.

Are you looking forward to using Graph Search?