How Privacy Works with Graph Search
Graph Search helps you find people, places and things—and explore Facebook in a whole new way.
  • My Friends
  • My Friends who live in San Francisco
  • My Friends who like Surfing
  • My Friends who went to Florida State University
  • My Friends who work at Facebook
  • Photos of my friends
  • Places my friends like

Your privacy choices determine what’s searchable

With Graph Search, you can look up anything shared with you on Facebook, and others can find stuff you've shared with them, including content set to Public. That means different people see different results.

People

You can find people based on things they've shared with you, including their interests and profile info.
You'll see results for friends who share their city with you, people whose city is set to Public, and suggested results based on info shared with you.
TIPTo control who can see your current city, edit this setting in your About tab on your timeline, or watch this video to learn how to edit this setting.

Photos

You can find photos you and your friends have posted or been tagged in.
Others will see any photos they can see on Facebook, including photos hidden from timeline.
TIPYou can review photos you've shared or have been tagged in. Watch this video to learn how to report or remove photo tags of you. Photos that are untagged but not deleted can still be discovered by others on Facebook.

Places

Discover things like restaurants and music through your friends and connections.
TIPTo review or remove location tags of you at any time, go to the Posts You're Tagged In section of your Activity Log.

When will Graph Search be available?

To help make sure you have a great experience with Graph Search, we're starting with a limited beta program for English (US) audiences first. If you'd like to be among the first to try it when it's available in your area, please join the waiting list.
As you get started, remember that you can always review stuff on Facebook that relates to you, change the audience for your own content, and ask others to remove photos or other posts:
Top Help Center Topics
Who can see my photos and photos I’m tagged in?

Your photos and photos you’re tagged in are visible to the audience they're shared with, as well as people tagged in the photo and their friends they choose to add. Keep in mind, photos and posts hidden from your timeline are still visible to these people other places on Facebook, such as in news feed and search.

To adjust who can see photos you’ve uploaded, change the audience or remove them. If you were tagged in a photo you don’t like, you can remove the tag or ask the person to take it down. To see and review posts you’ve hidden from your timeline, go to your activity log.

Was this answer helpful? ·
Permalink · Share
Who can see what I've liked on Facebook?

People can see and search for what you've liked if you have shared that info with them on Facebook.

To manage who you share this info with, go to the Likes section of your timeline. Click Edit to manage who can see the things you've liked.

Was this answer helpful? ·
Permalink · Share
Who can search for me?

Everyone on Facebook who isn't blocked by you can search for you, but what they can see in search results about you depends on what's shared with them.

Search results respect your privacy settings, whether it's info you’ve shared, or posts with tags of you that others have shared.

Was this answer helpful? ·
Permalink · Share
How do I see what others can search about me?

Search respects privacy settings, which means people can search for info about you that they can see on Facebook, based on what's been shared with them.

There are three ways you can manage what others may see about you in search results:

  • Use the audience selector to choose who can see things you share
  • Visit your activity log to see and review things you’ve hidden from your timeline
  • Go to the About section on your timeline to view and manage basic info about yourself

Remember: The goal of Graph Search is to help you discover new people, places and things. That's why it shows you the most relevant results, even if they do not exactly match your search term. For example, if someone searches for Lady Gaga they will see a set of results that includes but is not limited to the offical Lady Gaga Page.

Was this answer helpful? ·
Permalink · Share
How does Graph Search work for minors?
Like adults, minors can appear in search results. Some things, like their school, current city, hometown or birthday may only be visible to their friends, or friends of their friends who are also minors. Learn more about how minors connect with others.
Was this answer helpful? ·
Permalink · Share

Get more answers in the Help Center.