Understanding Facebook Graph Search
Date: February 4, 2013Category: Author: Danielle Azar
As everyone has undoubtedly already read, Facebook came out a few weeks ago with it’s newest feature that’s supposed to give the company a much-needed boost: Facebook Graph Search. In general, this is good news for anyone who uses Facebook. Facebook’s current search tool is nearly useless. It’s almost impossible to find either a person or company page unless you have already liked or friend-ed the person already. In my experience, the best way to find a business on Facebook is to Google search the businesses homepage and then click on the ubiquitous “Find us on Facebook!” link. It’s faster than using the current Facebook search and it works every time.
From what I’ve read, Facebook Graph Search focuses on finding content based on four main areas: people, photos, places, and interests and is an equation of check-ins and likes. For example, you can search for “friends who like hiking”, “photos of my family in New York”, or “people who like Santana who live near me”. This more focused method of searching should be a boon for events coordinators who can now target people for invitations by their interests and proximity. This is also great for anyone in marketing because anytime a marketing manager is able to drill down into their target market even further, the more successful their campaign usually is.
At the other end of the spectrum, this feature is going to raise a lot of privacy concerns. Facebook privacy controls are flawed at best and lack of privacy is one of the top reason users give for giving up Facebook altogether. Will we be able to make some content private while allowing Graph Search access to the rest or will it be all or nothing? Facebook says the new feature will be rolled out very slowly so they can see how people use it and make adjustments as needed before it’s ready for mass consumption.
Still don’t understand what Graph Search is going to do for you? Here’s a quick video that should help:
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