Will Facebook Graph Search change how you find information online?
Facebook is often times at the center of our social media lives. We login in the morning when we wake up, at night before we head to bed and during the day on our smart phones. The social media platform has been growing rapidly over the years with added features and updated application capabilities, but is 2013 an even bigger year for this site with the development of their Facebook Graph Search function?
What is it?
Facebook Graph Search is a newly developed kind of search engine that will function solely on the Facebook interface. The search engine itself will differ from others like Google or Bing in the fact that it will not be driven by an algorithm but by actual Facebook driven data. Facebook Graph Search will gather information based on social media popularity and will search according to content likes, shares and frequent check-ins by your own network of Facebook friends and followers. This search function will allow your results to be prioritized according to the opinions and reviews of the decision makers and trendsetters within your own life via social media.
Why do I care?
Facebook Graph Search is immediately differentiating itself from sites like Google and could be revolutionizing the past idea of organic search results being earned based on technical qualifications and link endorsements. This new search function will allow for a more dominant and useful sense of fan endorsement and creates a search engine equation that is unique to the Facebook platform.
For all you Google and Google+ fans, don’t worry about going to the dark side and leaving your favorite site behind. Facebook Graph Search does not claim to be a direct competitor of Google as their functions are each distinctively their own; Facebook Graph Search is simply looking to add an element into your searches that will surface data personalized from your own social media circles.
Basing their search results on the likes and recommendations of your own Facebook friends and followers make them more trustworthy and socially-driven. This can work in a business’ favor because it functions much like word of mouth recommendations. For example, you are looking for a hair salon with quality and affordable haircuts when you hear from a friend that Sally’s Salon is the best around, so you give it a try. Facebook Graph Search will give you the same opportunity to search according to the experiences your friends have made with the instant gratification element that the Internet provides.
The Facebook Graph Search will cover all necessary bases. All data will be derived from Facebook data and when that data is unavailable the results will be retrieved from the traditional search engine, Bing. The Facebook Graph Search is not yet available with the social media platform but will be showing its face very soon. Check back next week for more great information on this new tool and some best practices to help you prepare for the change. If you or anyone you know is hoping to utilize any aspect of social media marketing, please contact us today!
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