Monday, August 05, 2013

Some Thoughts About Facebook Graph Search




Earlier this summer Facebook launched on a larger scale its new search engine called Graph Search. Search Engine is a very strategic tool in the online advertizing business. Indeed, most of the advertizing revenues Google get is from its search engine activities. And as Facebook owns a large number of users, it is important they leverage this base in order to get revenues. This is the reason why they have launched their own branded search engine.

I believe it was very important for Facebook to own their search engine. After having seen the Bing experience with Yahoo, I am convinced it is better to own the search engine in order to maximize revenue. Now, you also need to have a powerful and efficient search engine, especially while comparing to Google excellent system. 

Facebook took an innovative approach, trying to focus on its main strength, the social links its users have with each others. That is the reason why Graph Search has been designed that way.

The problem is that a lot of people raised the confidentiality issues that Graph Search will bring on the table. I understand that issue, but once again, Facebook also need to leverage the data it has in order to improve its users experience. I believe that people using Facebook are now well aware of the confidentiality problems that may occur.

I have not really used Facebook Search yet, so it is difficult for me to talk a lot about it. But I really wonder if people will actually use Graph Search a lot. 

What do you think about it?