Facebook is making its millions of users' faces available to the public. They have added a search on the Facebook.com homepage. A post on GigaOm explains Facebook's Public Search Listings.
If you thought the news feed was a threat to your privacy, be warned: Facebook is announcing Public Search Listings today, meaning profiles will be searchable through Facebook, and soon turn up on Google, Yahoo and MSN Search.
As of tomorrow, search will be available through Facebook; users will then have one month to change their privacy settings before profiles get indexed by the major search engines. These results will include, at most, your name and profile picture.
Obviously that's a move that could scare some users, and there are some restrictions: you must have your profile set to viewable by "everyone" in order to appear, and only your limited profile will be public.
Mashable says Facebook users will have about a month to change their privacy settings before Facebook user faces and names start showing up in the major search engines. Some Facebook users that want their privacy may complain that Facebook should have made this opt-in instead of opt-out. Providing the majority of Facebook users don't change their privacy setting it will allow Facebook to compete more with some of the popular people search tools. It will also allow Facebook profiles to become more indexed in the major search engines resulting in increased traffic for Facebook.com.
