By DECLAN MURPHY

STAFF WRITER

A recently unveiled Facebook feature has many users concerned about their privacy when it comes to social networking. “Graph Search” is a new search tool introduced by Facebook that allows its users to search for people, businesses, restaurants, brands and music according to the interests and recommendations of their friends. If your friends ‘like’ a page, check in at a restaurant or tag themselves at a location in a photo, their activity will be tracked and filtered into your search results. Facebook recognizes that the new venture has a ton of potential and could be a significant source of profit. Facebook relies heavily on advertising revenue and hopes to turn this new tool into a popular search engine that can compete with Google. The company also wants to provide a service to users that promotes social activity in a whole new area of the online market. It comes with a lot of questions, both financial and ethical.

In theory, Graph Search seems like a groundbreaking development that could revolutionize the way people search on the Internet. On the other hand, the feature could also be a threat to privacy that would prompt Facebook users to shy away from the idea rather than embrace it. Although Facebook has answered privacy questions competently in the past by giving users the ability to hide photos and statuses from the public and certain friends, it is still unclear whether Graph Search will be the next big thing in social networking or just a failed attempt to create a vehicle for advertising.

The idea behind Graph Search is very promising. Recommendations that come from friends are almost always stronger than a report from a critic or impersonalized reviews on a website, and Graph Search’s ability to factor in your friends’ preferences and experiences makes it a unique service that Facebook can deliver. Questions regarding products, places or services can be answered quickly because Facebook tracks what your friends have liked and places them at the top of your results. This link between searching the Internet and consulting your friends could prove helpful in a number of areas. Other companies such as Yelp! and TripAdvisor  have also tried to capitalize on making Internet searches “social.” Graph Search can provide simple searches about liked products and restaurant check-ins, but it could also prove useful when searching for a new barber, hair salon or even  dentist. Graph Search also encourages Facebook users to share and like things they normally would not because they want to keep their friends “in the know.”

While some find Graph Search to be a cool, innovative feature that they will use frequently, others might view it as a “stalker” application that is yet another breach of privacy. Its success depends heavily on whether Facebook users will actively share information and like pages in order to keep their friends informed. Facebook engineers say that sharing information is critical for the tool  to gain traction and that it will not reach its full potential without widespread participation.

The new tool also poses the question about whether sharing personal information on the Internet has gone too far. Letting people know exactly where you have gone and what products you use might seem harmless in many people’s eyes, but research done by Northwestern University and the Pew Internet Center shows that young adults are very cautious about what they post and are apprehensive about sharing the information that Graph Search needs to thrive. The Northwestern University/Pew Internet Center survey suggests that the practice of profile screening done by employers and colleges has made Facebook users wary of sharing their personal life with the world.  Many young adults still feel unthreatened by the tool’s privacy implications.

“Google’s search is still much better,” Dylan Rico, FCRH ’13, said. “I think that if you are a Facebook user then your privacy is essentially already gone. I personally have nothing to hide, so sharing my information is not a problem for me if it helps contribute to Graph Search.”

The popularity of Graph Search still remains to be seen. If it can become useful to users and if Facebook friends do not mind sharing and posting to create a better social search engine, then it seems likely that it will succeed. The uniqueness of the tool alone should help propel it forward and hopefully its worth will slowly show itself. The great thing for Facebook is that rolling out new software and features like Graph Search can be done with little risk. Once the tool is created, it can be easily spread around the Internet with no distribution or production costs. Furthermore, because one-seventh of the world’s population uses Facebook, it can be promoted and become visible to billions of people without paying a cent for advertising. In that scenario, it is hard to imagine the tool not catching on, especially when the word about it is being spread around the globe.

Declan Murphy, FCRH ’13, is a political science major from Parkland, Fla.