Facebook announced the official use of hashtags, as seen on other social media sites like Twitter or Instagram, and with it comes security questions about the new feature.
A hashtag is the use of the # symbol in a post that allows it to show in a public search under the created thread.
"To date, there has not been a simple way to see the larger view of what's happening or what people are talking about," Facebook's Greg Lindley wrote on the company's blog Wednesday. "To bring these conversations more to the forefront, we will be rolling out a series of features that surface some of the interesting discussions people are having about public events, people, and topics. As a first step, we are beginning to roll out hashtags on Facebook."
According to reports, Facebook clarified the new feature does respect users current privacy settings. However, many of the website's social media users are concerned about the public viewing of their posts, which is why one must pay close attention to their privacy settings.
"You want to be extra vigilant now at making sure you are only sharing posts with the people you intend to share them with," ABC News reported. "You can also set it so that it defaults to just your friends: Switch the toggle to "Friends" and it will automatically default to that setting on anything you share."
When Facebook officially launches the use of hashtags, it will make older posts with hashtags "clickable." Users can always delete older posts if they do not want them seen by the public.
Facebook users can control who is able to see posts on their Friends list on the Timeline. Users can also create lists and permissions for each list to better control who may view posts that include hashtags.
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