Members will have the option to keep their name and picture private, or make them available to outside search…
“Internet users can now search for Facebook members on the Facebook site without logging in.”
Riding a wave of phenomenal growth in its user base, social networking site Facebook, in a bid to increase member numbers, is opening up member details so they can be discovered through online search engines such as Google, Ask.com and Yahoo.
Starting later on Wednesday, Facebook will begin notifying members they have a choice over whether to keep their listings private or to allow Facebook to make their name and profile picture available when outsiders search the site.
“The Palo Alto, Calif.-based site has grown to 39 million members, up 62.5 percent from 24 million in late May.”
The social networking site had previously blocked access to member’s profiles by unregistered users and search services.
The policy change, according to Facebook, is optional — members may choose whether they want their profiles to be searchable — and will “help more people connect.”
Right now, in order to search through Facebook profiles web users have to be Facebook members, or at least are invited to join the social-networking site by an existing member.
“But starting today, we are making limited public search listings available to people who are not logged in to Facebook, and allow anyone on the internet to search through members,” said Facebook engineer Philip Fung in a blog post on Wednesday. Searches can take place on Facebook itself, and through internet search engines.
“We are expanding search so that people can see which of their friends are on Facebook more easily,” Fung added. “However, the public search listing contains less information than someone could find right after signing up anyway, so we are not exposing any new information, and you have complete control over your public listing,” he said.
“In a few weeks, we will allow these Public Search listings — depending on users’ individual privacy settings — to be found by search engines like Ask, Google, MSN Live, Yahoo, etc.,” he continued. “We think this will help more people connect and find value from Facebook without exposing any actual profile information or data.”
“Fung maintains that Facebook users who do not want public search listings can indicate as much on Facebook’s Search Privacy page.”
Crucially, users have to opt out of the search service, which is enabled by default. This means that Facebook’s decision adds to concerns about privacy, recently raised by code leaks from Facebook and the propensity of some Facebook users to post sensitive details on their profiles. In theory, all 39 million members could be visible to search engines when Facebook’s changes go live tonight.
To remain invisible to non-members, Facebook profile holders have to opt-out of having a “public search listing.” They can also choose to restrict their profile to being searchable only through Facebook’s front page.
Early next month, nonmembers of Facebook will be able to type the names of friends or acquaintances into a search box on Facebook’s home page to see if they have public profiles on Facebook in order to contact them.
The expanded “Public Search” functionality comes as Facebook experiences a tremendous rate of growth since it opened its virtual doors in September 2006, inviting users outside of college and university settings to create profiles for themselves.
But the move could still prove controversial among some members who prize the privacy protections Facebook offers relative to more open sites. Many members have criticized Facebook policy changes.
As Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Watch and other have noted, Facebook profiles that are linked to from outside Facebook have been accessible through search engines for months. Google currently lists 25,000 Facebook profiles. Sullivan said he believes that today’s announcement reflects a change in the default setting of Facebook’s privacy controls from “Restricted” to “Everyone” as Facebook optimizes its listings for external indexing and access.
“A recent security breach reported by Monster.com, in which the job search site revealed that the personal information of some 1.3 million job seekers had been illegally downloaded, highlighted the challenges Web sites face in terms of protecting users’ sensitive data.”
“For Facebook, the changes mean more traffic. For users, that translates into less privacy, unless they opt-out.”