Facebook has announced today that it is now finishing up the removal of an old search setting. The removal of this setting, “Who can look up your Timeline by name,” was actually announced in December last year. This setting was removed for users who weren’t using it, those who are still using it, will begin to see reminders about the fact that Facebook is going to remove the setting in the coming weeks. Facebook says that whether or not users are making use of this, the best way to control privacy is to just choose who can see the individual things they share.
The “Who can look up your Timeline by name?” setting used to be available for everyone, it controlled whether or not a user could be found if someone typed their name in the search bar on Facebook. The social network gives a couple of reasons as to why this setting is being taken away. One reason is that Facebook isn’t what it used to be like when the setting was first brought in play. Today people are able to search for other people using Graph Search, and the fact that the setting isn’t able to prevent people who go on to someone’s profile by clicking on their name in the News Feed or in a mutual friend’s Timeline. That’s why Facebook says its “even more important” to control the privacy of individual things shared on the network. The second reason is that it confused users when they tried searching for someone and couldn’t find them in the search results, thus making Facebook’s search feature “feel broken at times.”
Those who’re using the setting will see a notice on their homepage like the one depicted in the picture posted above. They can either close the notice to get a reminder later, or click through to learn more. In the coming weeks, Facebook will also display a notice to people who’re sharing individual posts with the public, reminding them that the posts may also be viewed by people not in their connections.
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