Facebook has long remained as a closed network and to a large extent, it has been working for its users who value privacy, the walled garden approach and to a degree the quality of the network they form. Facebook has also been making some information that is viewable by everyone more open especially with the onslaught of Twitter which is a much more open network.
Facebook traffic has been largely organic due to the return users coming back for status update, the real time stream and connecting with friends. However, it is missing a large source of traffic from SEO by keeping its network closed. By allowing its information to be more accessible by Google indexing it, it has more chance of using its existing data to convert it to more traffic. Yes, even Facebook needs more traffic.
So, it is not surprising that Facebook is open for indexing by Google. At the heart of it all is the fact that Facebook will automatically index all your info on Google. To check that it is important to go to your Facebook account and login to Facebook and then go to Settings. Under settings, click on Privacy Settings->Search. You will then see "Public Search Results" and if you havent change anything, the "Allow Indexing" checkbox will be checked. If you do not want your information index by Google, then uncheck the "Allow indexing" box.
It is unclear if any of this is also related to the intergration of real time stream into Google. Already, Twitter streams are appearing in Google results and it is a matter of time that Facebook status updates and streams will too hopefully in a way that respects users' privacy.
However, it is important to know what kind of information is being indexed. The fact is that Facebook has created public search listings since 2007 and so it is unclear if there is anything different from what they are doing or will be doing recently. However, the walled garden approach has resulted in a higher quality network on Facebook and we do not think that Facebook will betray the user trust to do anything that will jeopardize it. So, we do not think that private information will end up getting indexed and shown on Google's search results. Otherwise, it will create a big uproar in the Facebook community.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
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