Exciting times ahead for marketers & page owners as Facebook launches the new Beta version of Graph Search.
Until now, the search bar you saw when you logged in to your Facebook page wasn't very powerful. You could only search for Timelines, your friends' pages, other peoples' public pages and business or product pages.
But now, after close to a year and a half of development, the new "Graph Search" will allow you to search and discover more about your friends and other information that's been put on the world's largest social site. Users will now be allowed to navigate the Internet through the data Facebook owns. For example, users will be able to search across different friends' Timelines without having to visit each individual profile to figure out if they like a specific place.
But now, after close to a year and a half of development, the new "Graph Search" will allow you to search and discover more about your friends and other information that's been put on the world's largest social site. Users will now be allowed to navigate the Internet through the data Facebook owns. For example, users will be able to search across different friends' Timelines without having to visit each individual profile to figure out if they like a specific place.
Find people who share your interests.
Want to start a book club or find a gym buddy? Connect with friends who like the same activities—and meet new people, too.
Now you can find more of what you're looking for through your friends, discover fun connections between people, places and things.
Graph Search is rolling out slowly. Users can sign up for the wait list here: Facebook Graph Search Beta Sign Up.
We've already signed up to the Beta version & using it now & we've got to say, we think it is fab! We only got it yesterday, we're still playing around with it, but didn't want to blog about it until we had tried & tested it! We've been mentioning this a lot recently on our Corrie D Marketing Facebook Page. Hence the blog article with further information on it (for anyone who's interested in more information on the topic).
Facebook wants each journey on the web to begin and end on its site. Its first significant move into search is designed to provide all the answers to users' questions: Which of my friends like Rihanna? How many of my friends speak German? Which TV shows are my colleagues watching?
Graph Search is designed for the the social web, where internet users spend more time on Facebook than they do searching the outside web.
How does it work? Users can search their friends, based on the information they have given Facebook permission to publish. For example, users will be able to quickly find "photos of my friends taken in Paris, France" or "Restaurants liked by friends in London".
Zuckerberg described Graph Search, in typical start-up fashion, as the "beta of version one". But he also described it as the "third pillar" of Facebook, after the news feed and timeline. He later said Graph Search could be a business in its own right – a remark that will prompt anxiety among Google executives.
Nate Elliot, a social-media analyst at Forrester Research, said the graph search announcement was part of Facebook's ambition to keep users coming back to its site.
"Facebook's worst nightmare is a static social graph," he said. "If users aren't adding very many new friends or connections, then their personal network becomes less and less active over time. Terrifyingly for Facebook, that threat is very real. We haven't seen significant growth in the average number of friends per user recently.
"Graph Search seems designed to encourage users to add more friends more quickly. If it means users' personal networks change more frequently, and become more active, then that keeps them coming back to the site – which is vital to Facebook's success. If Facebook and Bing can bring elements of Graph Search to Facebook's web search tool, then that's great. But it's not the point; the point is to keep Facebook users more active within the site."
Graph Search, which essentially helps to surface photographs or other data which before may have been buried. It does not make public any information that was not previously public, so users need not rush to change their privacy settings. But some users may be surprised to be presented with photos that they did not know they had been tagged in.
Getting graph search right first time is hugely important: search makes up the largest portion of digital advertising spending in the US, up from $15.1bn in 2011 to $17.58bn in 2012. And which company commands 74.5% of that $17.58bn ad spend? Google.
Should dating sites be worried about Facebooks Graph Search?
Forbes magazine says "Facebooks Graph Search will find you the perfect date". Although Facebook was never set out to be a dating site, the new graph search makes it the most powerful way of locating singles within your area who e.g. "Like" Radiohead.
Are you ready to sign up for the Beta version yet? You can sign up here. http://www.facebook.com/about/graphsearch We wish you "Good Luck" on those dates, let us know how you get on ;)?
Let us know what you think if you've also got Graph Search? What do you think this means to marketers? How will this affect businesses?
