Now Facebook users can search for so much more than just people, places and things. They can search for more specific interest based on likes, places friends have been, dates, and so much more! Feeling very nostalgic .. search for photos before 1995. Looking for a good place to eat... search for Italian restaurants your friends have liked.
With Graph Search, Facebook has taken a huge leap from communication and into information. This new search engine opens a whole new world for Facebook and it's users! But what exactly make this search engine different from Google? Can Facebook compete against one of the worlds best search engine website? Let's compare to find out!
The most major difference between the two are their sources. When conducting a search on Facebook, users will be given results based on the profiles of friends or friends-of-friends. This is meant to ensure more reliable sources. After all, most people are more willing to visit a restaurant their friend recommended then the vague comments mentioned on the official website. However, there is a flaw to this. Me personally, I lOVE applebees! I think their boneless buffalo wings are one of the best I have ever had. I've never been to the restaurant without ordering them. So I liked their Facebook page. But what does that prove? I like their ENTIRE company? I could have liked them for their charity drives, their french fries, or just because my friend works there.
Further more, the Applebee's page doesn't mention their faults. There is nothing that say their chicken is horrible (not that it is! I'm just giving an example). This is where Google comes in. Their search results come from everywhere - blogs, official websites, reviews, and even Facebook. Google is how you find out their wings are banging, along with other reason why the restaurant is well-liked or not liked at all. The flaw with Google is you don't know the people writing these reviews. Some of these people could have been in a bad mood when they wrote the review or just have strange taste buds. So what should you trust more, the number of likes or the specific links?
Does your doctor have a Facebook page? What about your plumber or barber? I lot of things you are looking for aren't always on Facebook. For searches like these you need Google. But what happens if you want to go skiing this weekend? You wouldn't google "friends who like to ski". Searches like these are meant for Facebook. So although Facebook broke through the communication barrier into information, they are still stuck inside a bubble. They only information they can gather is information already in the Facebook niche, nothing more but nothing less. There may be more of search engine optimization puzzle to figure out with their alliance with Bing, but we'll have to wait and see on that one.
It seems that every time Facebook step forward into improvement, they also step into a law suit. Will Facebook users consider this an infringement on their privacy? Facebook was bad already by showing everything about a person's life; now their measuring it. I can't imagine that at least one user won't show some concern for this.
As you can see, there is a lot separating Facebook's Graph Search and Google. There are several other differences as well but others are not evident enough to compare. Still, the question remains - Can Facebook compete against one of the world's best search engine website? The answer seems to be yes!
But I wouldn't worry about Google. Facebook won't conquer the world wide web enough to kick Google out. However, they will be able to steal some of Google's users when doing certain searches. Now the question remains - Will Facebook break through its close niche? Once that happens, the Google needs to start worrying. It's going to be a fun event to watch when that happens.
