Earlier this week, Facebook announced Search Graph, the new feature that will allow users to easily find people and places based on social connections. Unfortunately, that means lots of information you thought was securely tucked away from the depths of Facebook will now resurface and haunt you in the form of Search Graph results. Luckily, Search Graph is still in private Beta, so here are four things you can do to prevent being in unwanted search results when it’s launched to the public.
(Photo credit: Gizmodo)
1. Start Unliking Embarrassing Pages
Gizmodo recently published an article that revealed people’s “Likes” as an intricate part of Search Graph’s search algorithm. They did a search for “Women who like sucking dicks” that returned users who liked the page “sucking dicks.”
You will need to go through all of your pages and unlike any page which may be embarrassing or incriminating. To do this, you will need to navigate to your profile, click on Likes, scroll to the bottom of the page, and browse each of your likes based on year. If you see any incriminating or embarrassing pages, simply unlike the page.
2. Leave Incriminating Groups
Similar to Pages you liked, public groups you’ve joined appears in search results as well. To leave unwanted groups, mouse-over the Groups header in your News Feed sidebar and click More. Here, you can click on the pencil icon next to each group to leave that group.
3. Approve Who Tags You In Photos And Updates
Most likely you have Facebook friends who post photos and updates publicly. If they tag you in either photos or posts that are incriminating or embarrassing, you may be in for a world of hurt. You can change your Facebook settings to approve tagged photos and posts simply by going into your Facebook settings and accessing the Timeline and Tagging section. Simply change “Review tags people add to your own posts before the tags appear on Facebook” to “On.” Did someone tag you in a photo puking your brains out while celebrating your birthday at a bar? Simply don’t approve it, and it won’t appear in searches.
4. Manage Your Activity Log For Everything Else
Simply hiding posts from your timeline doesn’t protect you from Graph Search queries. You will need to delete those posts, or any other type of activities you want removed, from your Activity Log. To do this, navigate to your profile and click the Activity Log button located below your cover photo. This will list every bit of interaction you’ve made with Facebook. You can see all of the photos, links, pages, or posts you’ve liked since you initially joined the site. You can even see which activity was posted publicly or privately. Here, you can remove, unlike, or delete any comment you’ve ever made.
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