Facebook’s new Graph Search: An uh-oh moment for users?

Will Facebook’s more advanced Graph Search — which is getting tested on select users now — uncover some embarrassing remarks regarding your sister-in-law that you’d rather the whole world not read again? Or how about that pic from your friend’s bachelor party which you now wish you had never taken? As TechCrunch writer Josh Constine says, it just may.

A powerful new search

Facebook recently rolled out its new Graph Search to a small number of U.S. users who read in English. Which means that people can search your former posts by status updates, comments, photo captions, notes and check-ins. This makes it easy to search your friends and family members for specific comments or photos. But, is there a downside to this advanced new Graph Search?

The erosion of privacy

This might be good news for users searching for specific posts from family members or friends. But it could retrieve some embarrassments for users, too. After all, it’s now extremely easy for users to find posts that you wrote when you were a younger, and probably less wise, person.

Obscurity is gone?

There was a time when, Constine writes, you had privacy by obscurity: Not many people would comb through the many hundreds of posts you’ve made over time. Those days, though, seem to be gone. After all, users who have access to your post can now easily dig through your past using Graph Search. And this may not be such a positive thing, depending on your past.