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Interesting, Karl. Although the existence of Bing already provides an alternative -- I don't know that beefing up Facebook search will keep competitors any more at bay.
paidContent is reporting (How Facebook Search could be a gift to Google) notes that Facebook's development of a decent search product could relive Google of some anti-trust pressure by showing that there are search alternatives. "Google may need this argument more than ever now that it has jettisoned purely objective search results in favor of promoting more social forms of search."
And SearchEngineLand looked at the Facebook reports again over the past few days:
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.
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.
@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.
@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 - 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.
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.
This is definitely a 'time will tell' situation.
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. :)
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.
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