Facebook tuning mobile search at social network

Facebook on Friday said it is dabbling with letting members using smartphones or tablets search for past posts of friends at the leading online social network.

Facebook is testing using keywords to find old posts, the California-based company said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

Search results remain true to sharing settings used when posts were made, meaning people are only shown content they are permitted to see, according to Facebook.

Facebook early last year launched "Graph Search" that helps members using desktop computers or laptops better navigate the vast amount of information at the social network, which is not available on Web search engines such as Google.

The feature was introduced as a work-in-progress and has yet to spread to all of the social networks 1.3 billion users.

Facebook emphasized that "Graph Search" is focused on information archived within the network and not designed to compete with the kinds of general online queries tackled by Google.

Facebook uses Microsoft's Bing search engine to scour content in Facebook.

© 2014 AFP