Just as we thought, Facebook has unveiled a brand new search service that will be implemented into the 1 billion strong social network, dubbed Facebook Graph Search.
So what is Graph Search? Well, it’s not a complete, standalone search engine, so Google need not get its servers in a twist. This is a feature that will only be found on Facebook and it’s designed to help its users become better connected and find people, photos and other stuff that is likely to interest them. CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg proudly revealed the new feature earlier today at Facebook’s big media event, and explained the idea behind Graph Search;
“Graph Search is designed to give you the answer rather than take you to an answer,” he explained. “Most other search products rely on filters, we quickly realised this wouldn’t scale so we came up with something a lot more natural.”
There are currently over a billion active users and some 240 billion photos uploaded to the site, and so this new feature is set to help users find what they want or what they might want much easier and more quickly. That’s not to say you’ll be able to flick through everything on Facebook – only the content you’re already able to view, through connections you’ve made with others.
Graph Search links in everything from photos to likes to people’s interests, so for example you could search for ‘friends who like rock music’ and Facebook will bring you a list. Or, you could bring up every photo your friends have uploaded that contain a cat, if you really wanted to. You get the idea.
Just like Google, Graph Search will work in real time, giving you results as you type. It also automatically charts your search results based on how strong your connections with others are, so images or likes from your family members are more likely to come top of the list over anything from that strange fellow from work you don’t really know and wish you hadn’t added.
At the moment Facebook Graph Search is only available for beta testing to US users of the website. It will be added for everyone in due time, but if you’re eager to get involved then sign up here.