The project is headed up by ex-Googler Lars Rasmussen, a Danish computer scientist who collaborated with his brother Jens on the ill-fated Google Wave project. Previously, Lars Rasmussen co-founded mapping software company Where 2 Technologies, sold it to Google in 2004, and helped create Google Maps. He left Google for Facebook in 2010 after a personal pitch from company CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
I'm not seeing any indication that Facebook wants to go head-to-head with Google on searching the entire Web. Rather, Facebook wants to do a better job searching the content members create on Facebook itself, such as status updates, articles, videos, and other information across the Web that members Like, according to BusinessWeek.
Another reason Facebook won't be going head-to-head with Google: Facebook members only see and rate a small fraction of the content of the Web. And that content skews heavily toward the more recent -- today's news or e-commerce offerings. Google is likely to remain dominant in the rare and obscure searches that, aggregated together, make up the bulk of search business.
According to BusinessWeek:
The $15 billion search advertising market could be a huge opportunity for the company. It’s also a way to attack a chief rival, Google, which is moving in the opposite direction, from search to social, with its incipient Google+ network. With a more potent search engine, Facebook’s wine-loving users might be able to query the closest wineries that have been liked most often. That would give people one fewer reason to leave the site’s walled garden. Facebook could also follow the lead of companies such as Google and Microsoft and start selling relevant—and profitable—keyword ads alongside results. “Search is the best form of monetization on the Web by far, and they are leaving that on the table,” says Doug Leeds, chief executive officer of search engine Ask.com. “From a business perspective, you have to think about going into search.”
For example, I wanted a taco, I wouldn’t necessarily type taco into an open search box like I would on Google. I’d choose a location or a group of friends and then search for “taco”. Based on where they’ve checked in on foursquare or Facebook, or things that they’ve liked, I could be given results to check out.
There's certainly a lot of room for improvement in Facebook search compared with Google. For example, when I search Google for "glasses," I get a list of places I can buy eyeglasses, both near me geographically and on the Web. Searching Facebook, the top listing is for something called "Alioscopy - 3D Displays, No Glasses Required." Second is something called STUN Glasses, an online sunglasses store. I also get pages for "glasses" and "sunglasses" containing no useful information at all, as well as listings for several people with no indication why they come up in a search for "glasses."
If Facebook beefs up its search engine, the implications for marketers are profound. For years, Internet marketing has been a pillar of marketing overall, search marketing has been a pillar of Internet marketing, and Google has dominated search. Marketers focus on getting good search results on Google and Google AdWords. Facebook search would likely emerge quickly as a rival to Google, meaning marketers would have to rapidly shift their focus to making sure their searches do well on both Google and Facebook, two very different arenas.
What do you think? Is traditional search marketing, as exemplified by Google, becoming less important?
Google's search algorithms are showing more and more current information when topics are trending. Magic Johnson is back in the news with his bid for the Dodgers. As a result, search shows more about the Dodger deal than about his career. This will likely continue until his prominence in the news heads to the background. We'll then start to see more about his basketball career.
This trait, coupled wiith the Google+ loading, makes searches more focused on current signals rather than some arbitrary index of what's important. If I do a search with a custom date and only specify the end date, such as March 1, I can get a view of Magic's career before the recent news.
Although long overdue, it seems a bit odd that Facebook would be developing its own search team. Their friendly relationship with Microsoft would seem to be a good opportunity for both companies to leverage Bing as a social search resource.
Also, don't overlook the power of It Must Be True, The Computer Said So. Many people will use what the search returned rather than re-searching to get what they wanted. I think that's likely to be especially powerful with Facebook because of the number of naive users and the fact that Facebook searches are likely to be very people-oriented, so dumb searches will work better anyway.
Karl, it appears likely that Facebook is looking to beef up its internal search results. Facebook members would use it to find out, for example, what their friends think is the best clothing store or taco stand in the area. Or to find all discussions of last night's episode of Mad Men.
Given the volume of use of Facebook, that alone could be quite powerful and a competitor to Google and Bing.
Why not? The more that people can do through Facebook continues to make FB an integral part of a user's world. If the oven could be controlled while logged into FB that would be even better.
We need to continue boldly going where no man has gone before.
Okay, not quite what Kirk had in mind, but it works. :)
I would say that Facebook's better internal search doesn't directly compete with Google's.
Facebook's internal search results were a joke the last time I used them, so the beef-up is long overdue. The thing is, I use Facebook's search to find information I know is on Facebook. The kind of information I seek on Facebook has little to do with the kind of information I seek on Google.
Now mind you -- I've never used Facebook to search for friend's opinions on subjects. I turn to my 'expert' friends when it comes to research, and I usually use the phone in that case.
Despite this, I think even people who would search out their friends' opinions would treat 'within my network' searches as fulfilling a different need from Google's 'external network' searches. If that is the case, then Facebook won't be so much competing against Google as much as acting as a complimentary resource.
@smkinoshita - Do you think people would use Facebook to search for opinions -- great margarita bars in the neighborhoods -- and conversations?
That kind of thing would make Facebook more competitive with Twitter.
It would compete with Google to the extent that Google search's mission is basically to help people use the Internet to get answers to questions. Anything on the Internet that provides answers without going through Google competes with Google.
@Mitch: You're right about Facebook becoming more competitive with Twitter in that respect. As far as Google is concerned though... I don't equate 'opinion' with 'answer'. Still, you make an interesting point. I still think it's too early to guess.
@smkinoshita - There are some questions for which the best answer is a fact: Where is the nearest Walmart? Where is the most inexpensive place nearby to get paper towels?
For other questions, the answer is an opinion: Where is the best place near me to buy clothes? Who makes the best pizza in town?
Facebook appears to be going after the opinion-questions.
Some questions are either opinion or fact depending on the perspective. I have a persistent cough. What should I do about that? The best answer for you depends on how you feel about Western medicine.
When the Facebook report surfaced late last week, SearchEngineLand's Danny Sullivan tweeted out a link to a 2007 article he wrote about the limits of social search that's still releveant today.
The main point for the purposes of this discussion: A person's friends tastes may be different from his own. What if I'm a vegan whose friends are all carnivores? Their restaurant recommendations will be useless to me.
Summed up: it's unlikely that Facebook is challenging Google on Web search. One reason: Facebook's existing agreement with Bing precludes that.
Facebook is likely beefing up its own, internal search, which would itself be huge, considering the enormous volume of data generated by hundreds of millions of people on Facebook.
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