Looking for something? Facebook it.
Facebook on Tuesday lifted the lid on a new way for users to troll for information on the social network. Called Graph Search, the new function allows members to more easily discover people, places and photos and other members’ interests, Facebook said.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed the tool in Menlo Park, Calif., after the company issued a mysterious invitation last week to the media to “Come and see what we’re building.”
Unlike a typical Web search, the tool searches by phrases and lets users find only content shared with them on Facebook, keeping them on the website, Zuckerberg said.
Type in “friends of friends who are single” into a blue search bar at the top of the social network’s site, for example, and Graph Search spits out a list of potential mates.
Users can also search for music and movies their friends like.
The company, often criticized for privacy issues, stressed the tool will only reveal info that’s public or already available to a user.
Facebook began rolling out the tool to a limited number of its 1 billion users on Tuesday. Results that Facebook can’t deliver will be filled in Microsoft’s Bing search engine.
The move could eventually ramp up the battle for online advertising, analysts said, pitting Facebook against other places people search for things, like Google, LinkedIn and user-generated review website Yelp.
Facebook has been scrambling to prove its profitability to investors since its much-hyped public debut in May fell flat.
While better search capabilities are a step in the right direction, how much money Facebook can wring out of them remains unclear, Morningstar analyst Rick Summer told the Daily News.
“Just because you grow a few inches taller doesn’t necessarily mean you're going to play in the NBA,” he said.
Source: NY Daily News / Elizabeth Lazarowitz
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