Facebook enables Google to deep link to its mobile app content--your public posts may now appear in Google search results.
Google, known for the behemoth it is in indexing the planet’s web data, is the de facto go-to resource for online searches. Well for the majority of us anyway. Parallely, Facebook is the go-to social network for finding out everything from what’s happening in your ex’s life to, increasingly, real-world news from around the globe.
Both of these online universes have for the most part been mutually exclusive, with very little sharing happening between the two. Until today, that is. Facebook has announced they will now allow Google to include search results from Facebook’s app, including all kinds of public posts, notes and events that appear in the app.
This level of deep linking has been unprecedented between the two online giants, and the implications are quite expansive. While Facebook maintains that no content that isn’t publicly shared will be accessible to and crawlable by Google’s search bots, it bears closer inspection. Facebook has opened access to its mobile app to Google, and while it may be unusual seeing content you’d otherwise expect to find only on Facebook, it spells a whole new level of information indexing.
Which raises another concern: how many Facebook users truly do utilize all of the privacy tools that help safeguard their personal data? Most profiles expose a surprising amount of personal information, mostly because people either aren’t clued into using the tools, or simply don’t want to bother with learning to use them. Either way, it could result in a fair amount of information being unintentionally exposed going forward. And now not only to Facebook users, but to the broader Google online universe as well.
Not sure about the level of privacy your Facebook data is at? Head over to their Help Center here and lock down your personal information before it gets out there. Because now, it can really get out there.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Facebook Mobile App")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}