Facebook Is Building A New Graph Search.
Speculations were high regarding Facebook’s event on Tuesday at it’s headquarters while some going on to suggest that the social networking giant might just launch it’s own smartphone. But, all that wasn’t the case as the Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg took the stage and unveiled the company’s new search feature- The “Facebook Graph Search”.
Facebook Graph Search enables the users to quickly search for any information they might need about people, photographs, places and interests within their social connections. Though, the new service is till in beta mode and is available to select users only, at present but will eventually be rolled out for every user on Facebook. The new feature will make it’s way to the desktop users first whereas the mobile version will take some more time.
With the new search feature, Facebook takes a step further to directly compete with Google, the company which earns a majority of it’s revenue through it’s most popular product- Google Search. But Zuckerberg says that unlike Google, the Facebook Graph Search isn’t a web search but a search that would give you results based on what your connections on Facebook have shared.
Once it goes live, the Facebook Graph Search will show up as a bigger search bar at the top of each page. The words you type-in on the Graph Search, appear as the title of the page and gives the users a set of results based on their search while giving you the option of changing the title of the page as well.
Cnet accurately points out the monetization aspect of the new graph search feature and says,
Graph Search will help the company prove to Wall Street that it can continue to exponentially grow another important metric: engagement. Better still, the product has the long-term potential to be a money-making machine. As Altimeter industry analyst Susan Etlinger told me, Graph Search will fill in the dots between the person, the brand, and the preference. This unlocks the potential for brands to provide people with relevant offers for things they actually want.
Many users may fear that their privacy might be at risk with this new feature, but Mark Zuckerberg pointed out during the press event that Graph Search won’t compromise on the privacy of users. Graph search will only display results which are wither public or have been shared with friends or friends of friends
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press release
January 15, 2013
Facebook’s mission is to make the world more open and connected. The main way we do this is by giving people the tools to map out their relationships with the people and things they care about. We call this map the graph. It’s big and constantly expanding with new people, content and connections. There are already more than a billion people, more than 240 billion photos and more than a trillion connections.
Today we’re announcing a new way to navigate these connections and make them more useful. We’re calling it Graph Search, and it starts today with a limited preview, or beta.
When Facebook first launched, the main way most people used the site was to browse around, learn about people and make new connections. Graph Search takes us back to our roots and allows people to use the graph to make new connections.
Graph Search will appear as a bigger search bar at the top of each page. When you search for something, that search not only determines the set of results you get, but also serves as a title for the page. You can edit the title – and in doing so create your own custom view of the content you and your friends have shared on Facebook.
Graph Search and web search are very different. Web search is designed to take a set of keywords (for example: “hip hop”) and provide the best possible results that match those keywords. With Graph Search you combine phrases (for example: “my friends in New York who like Jay-Z”) to get that set of people, places, photos or other content that’s been shared on Facebook. We believe they have very different uses.
Another big difference from web search is that every piece of content on Facebook has its own audience, and most content isn’t public. We’ve built Graph Search from the start with privacy in mind, and it respects the privacy and audience of each piece of content on Facebook. It makes finding new things much easier, but you can only see what you could already view elsewhere on Facebook.
We’re very early in the development of Graph Search. It’s only available in English today and you can search for only a subset of content on Facebook. Posts and Open Graph actions (for example, song listens) are not yet available. We’ll be working on these things over the coming months.
The first version of Graph Search focuses on four main areas — people, photos, places, and interests.
People: “friends who live in my city,” “people from my hometown who like hiking,” “friends of friends who have been to Yosemite National Park,” “software engineers who live in San Francisco and like skiing,” “people who like things I like,” “people who like tennis and live nearby”Photos: “photos I like,” “photos of my family,” “photos of my friends before 1999,” “photos of my friends taken in New York,” “photos of the Eiffel Tower”Places: “restaurants in San Francisco,” “cities visited by my family,” “Indian restaurants liked by my friends from India,” “tourist attractions in Italy visited by my friends,” “restaurants in New York liked by chefs,” “countries my friends have visited”Interests: “music my friends like,” “movies liked by people who like movies I like,” “languages my friends speak,” “strategy games played by friends of my friends,” “movies liked by people who are film directors,” “books read by CEOs”
The Graph Search beta starts today. Go to www.facebook.com/graphsearch to get on the waitlist.
The roll out is going to be slow so we can see how people use Graph Search and make improvements.
We look forward to your feedback. Enjoy and explore the graph.
A replay of the Graph Search media event is available here.__
Additional Media Resources:
To learn more about Graph Search, go to www.facebook.com/graphsearch
To learn about Graph Search and privacy, go to www.facebook.com/about/graphsearch/privacy
To learn more on how Graph Search was built, click here.
To download a behind the scenes video, click here.
For a collection of screen shots, click here.
For how Graph Search can help people discover your business, visit Facebook Studio.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Graph Search?Graph Search is a new way for you to find people, photos, places and interests that are most relevant to you on Facebook.
What is Graph Search?Graph Search is a new way for you to find people, photos, places and interests that are most relevant to you on Facebook.
What is Graph Search useful for?Graph Search will help you instantly find others, learn more about them and make connections, explore photos, quickly find places like local attractions and restaurants, and learn about common interests like music, movies, books and more. All results are unique based on the strength of relationships and connections.
What can I search for?With Graph Search, you can search for people, photos, places and interests.
How do I search?Type your search into the blue bar at the top of the page. As you start to type, suggestions appear in a drop down. You can refine your search using the tools on the right-hand side of the page.
Some example searches include:
· People who like tennis and live nearby
· Photos before 1990
· Photos of my friends in New York
· Sushi restaurants in Palo Alto my friends have liked
· Tourist attractions in Italy visited by my friends
· People who like tennis and live nearby
· Photos before 1990
· Photos of my friends in New York
· Sushi restaurants in Palo Alto my friends have liked
· Tourist attractions in Italy visited by my friends
How are you rolling this out?Graph Search is in a limited preview, or beta. That means Graph Search will only be available to a very small number of people who use Facebook in US English.
How can I get Facebook Graph Search?You can sign up for the waitlist at www.facebook.com/graphsearch
Does Graph Search change any of my current privacy settings?No. Graph Search follows your current privacy settings. You can only search for content that has been shared with you.
How do I control what tags, locations and photos can show up about me?To control tags, photos or posts with locations about you that appear in search, go to your Activity Log.
