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Facebook takes aim at Twitter and Google and makes 2 TRILLION public posts searchable (so check your privacy settings)

Facebook users are already making over 1.5 billion searches per day
Will now index all of its public posts - which currently number 2 trillion

Published: 17:09 EST, 22 October 2015 | Updated: 04:08 EST, 23 October 2015

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Facebook has announced an ambitious plan to 'index the world's conversation' - and keep people away from Twitter and Google.

The social networking giant said its users are already making over 1.5 billion searches per day.

To help them, it will now index all of its posts - which currently number 2 trillion.

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The social networking giant said its users are already making over 1.5 billion searches per day - and their results will now be far more comprehensive.

'Because we've indexed the entire world's conversations, we tell you things that are trending, things that are breaking, what's happening right now,' Rousseau Kazi, a product manager on Facebook's search team, told The Verge.

'The whole idea here is that if you can group these pieces of content in certain ways, it makes it pretty easy to get the full story.'

'Search is an important, long-term effort at Facebook,' it site said in a post announcing the new feature..

'The team's goal with Search FYI is to share our progress more frequently.'

Facebook said it has increasingly seen users visit the site looking for the latest news.

'When something happens in the world, people often turn to Facebook to see how their friends and family are reacting.

'Today, we're updating Facebook Search so that in addition to friends and family, you can find out what the world is saying about topics that matter to you.'

The firm says results are personalised to each user - and will respect user's privacy settings.

'The diverse experiences and perspectives that are shared on Facebook can't be found anywhere else.

'Your search results are personalized and unique to you and, as always, you can only see things that have been shared with you.

'Likewise, you control who can see your posts on Facebook and it's easy to change the audience of your past posts any time.'

Search results are personalised and unique to each user, and you can only see and search for things that have been shared with you.

Earlier this week Facebook said if it believes your account has been targeted by someone it thinks works for a 'nation-state', it will show a warning message.

In this message, Facebook describes these attackers as 'state-sponsored actors', although it has not specified exactly what this means or how it monitors such activity.

The announcement was made by Facebook's chief security officer Alex Stamos in a blog post.

Mr Stamos explained: 'The security of people's accounts is paramount at Facebook, which is why we constantly monitor for potentially malicious activity and offer many options to proactively secure your account.

'Starting today, we will notify you if we believe your account has been targeted or compromised by an attacker suspected of working on behalf of a nation-state.'

From today, if Facebook believes your account has been targeted by someone it thinks works for a nation-state, it will show a warning message. In this notification (pictured), Facebook describes attackers as 'state-sponsored actors', although it has not specified exactly what this means or how it monitors such activity

HOW TO ENABLE LOGIN ALERTS

If anyone tries to access an account from a new browser, for example, a warning message is sent to the account owner.

This can either be in the form of a notification on Facebook or via email or text.

To enable these, go to the Settings menu on either the Facebook site or app.

Go to Security and click Edit next to Login Alerts.

You can choose how you want to be notified and which email address or phone number you will receive these notifications on.

Login Approvals adds an extra layer of security that means only a person with an access code, sent each time a login attempt is made, can access the account.

He also posted an image of what the notification will look like on the desktop version of Facebook.

This example message reads: 'Jay, we believe your Facebook account and your other online accounts may be the target of attacks from state-sponsored actors.

'Turning on Login Approvals will help keep others from logging into your Facebook account.

'Whenever your account is accessed from a new device or browser, we'll sent a security code to your phone so that only you can log in.

'We recommend you also take steps to secure the accounts you use on other services.'

This notification is also shown providing a link to the Settings menu to let people enable Login Approvals easily.

Login Alerts and Login Approvals are already available and if anyone tries to access an account from a new browser, for example, a warning message is sent to the account owner.

This can either be in the form of a notification on Facebook or via email or text.

Login Alerts and Login Approvals are already available to all users. If anyone tries to access an account from a new browser, for example, a warning message is sent to the account owner. This can either be in the form of a notification on Facebook (pictured), or via email or text

MailOnline has contacted the firm to find out how these notifications will appear on the apps and mobile version of the site.

Mr Stamos continued: 'To protect the integrity of our methods and processes, we often won't be able to explain how we attribute certain attacks to suspected attackers.

'That said, we plan to use this warning only in situations where the evidence strongly supports our conclusion.

'We hope that these warnings will assist those people in need of protection, and we will continue to improve our ability to prevent and detect attacks of all kinds against people on Facebook.'

Facebook is keen to keep its user's details safe from governments and publishes a Transparency Report each year. It details how many times governments have approached the site for information about its users, and how many times it has released this information (the most up-to-date UK example is pictured)

Facebook is keen to keep its user's details safe from governments and publishes a Transparency Report each year.

Similar to the reports produced by Google and Twitter, Facebook's report details how many times governments have approached the site for information about its users, and how many times it has released this information.

Each request is checked for legal sufficiency and it said it rejects or 'requires greater specificity' on requests that are too broad or vague.