Discussion in Facebook Groups and Pages is Public and Searchable
While discussion on Facebook Pages has always been publicly accessible to the world and indexed by search engines like Google, wall posts and discussion within Facebook Groups have historically been “off limits” to search engines. However, in recent days, many marketers and users have started noticing Groups discussions and wall posts showing up in Google search results.
For users, while Facebook is currently only allowing discussion in “public” groups (groups accessible to all Facebook members) to be accessible to search engines, it does need to do a better job of communicating to users when their posts – which are tied to their Facebook identities – are going to be visible to the public web. Currently, Facebook’s own search does not even search discussions in Facebook Groups, so many users may be surprised to find out that what they’re saying could turn up in future Google searches about them by potential employers, friends, or members of the opposite sex. Facebook’s Privacy Settings does not provide a “Groups discussion” setting, so for now, be careful what you say.
For marketers, public visibility of Facebook Groups discussion means you need to be spending more time and energy monitoring conversation around your brand inside Facebook Groups – what Facebook users say is now visible to anyone on the web.
September 7th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
[...] Microsystems said it was indeed a possibility. And in case you didn’t know, Facebook Groups are publicly searchable — That’s if they’re publicly viewable in the first place. [...]
September 7th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
[...] are being opened up to search and these pages are causing issues somehow – several sites reported this. Facebook’s continuing inconsistently about what is public and not public to search is [...]
September 7th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Only a user’s first name is visible to search engines, so I don’t see the concern about people’s discussions turning up in future Google searches.
September 8th, 2008 at 1:35 am
Hi Justin, Thanks for posting about the tip I gave you.
In my own particular instance this was of interest (discovered) as an individual was posting libellous comments on a facebook group about a client of mine.
We were managing this on the basis that as it’s in Facebook as opposed to whole of the internet we’d take a softer line to start with.
This view may now have to change as a result of these comments now being indexed by Google.
It’s going to be interesting to see how various Companies etc. respond to comments, especially as some of the things posted in Facebook can be very negative.
Mike Ashworth
Marketing Coach and Consultant
Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, UK
September 8th, 2008 at 6:50 am
[...] Discussion in Facebook Groups and Pages is Public and Searchable.Note to sourcers. New data stream. [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
[...] Inside Facebook » Discussion in Facebook Groups and Pages is Public and Searchable Search for groups and pages on facebook … handy for brand tracking (tags: brands facebook search) [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
More proof that you should always watch what you say on the web or anything else you put out there. Never know who is going to see it!
September 8th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
[...] Discussion in Facebook Groups and Pages is Public and Searchable, Inside Facebook [...]
September 8th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
[...] Discussion in Facebook Groups and Pages is Public and Searchable, Inside Facebook [...]
September 9th, 2008 at 10:49 am
[...] September 2008 by slewfootsnoop Here’s something on using Google to find Facebook [...]
September 12th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
[...] week, Inside Facebook reported that Facebook had opened up discussion in Groups and Pages for search engines. Soon, Facebook may make Events public and searchable as [...]
October 20th, 2008 at 2:31 am
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January 4th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
January 23rd, 2009 at 2:34 pm
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February 18th, 2009 at 7:20 am
шляпа какая то
February 18th, 2009 at 7:23 am
[...] Discussion in Facebook Groups and Pages is Public and Searchable, Inside Facebook [...]
July 17th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
[...] הממוצע. שניהם מתאימים לצרכים עיסקיים והכי חשוב הם עולים במנועי החיפוש דוגמת גוגל. להלן טבלה המפרטת את השונה והדומה בכדי [...]
October 21st, 2009 at 11:26 am
Interesting post as for me. It would be great to read something more concerning this matter.
April 24th, 2010 at 7:14 pm
Thanks for the article as I want to make a group page that will be searchable. This was very helpful.
July 13th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
[...] Yes (BUT: discussions are public and crawled) [...]
July 20th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Yes this is true that the not only discussion even your fan page links are also shown google search results. you can see your latest post in google real time search results also because due to new google updates google is indexing and crawling new and fresh content for the site.
September 8th, 2010 at 2:41 am
how are they these people
November 18th, 2010 at 2:27 am
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