Facebook launched Graph Search to US English users yesterday, allowing for new levels of discovering and exploring content on the social networking platform.
The new search platform taps into a wealth of data about a person's "social graph" which consists of a network of relationships, acquaintances and preferences described on their profiles.
Mike Sharman, owner of digital communications agency Retroviral, uses the beta trial version of Graph Search and sees it as Facebook's step towards challenging Web search giant Google.
"Graph Search is a big attempt to keep people on Facebook as long as possible," he says. "The longer you have eyeballs there, the more attractive you become to advertisers."
The new feature only indexes information on Facebook.
Privacy protection
Graph Search includes enhanced privacy settings to cater for new levels of user information availability.
The company stated, in a recent post on its newsroom page, that users have autonomy over what becomes available. "It all depends on which audience you choose," read the post.
Settings range from 'public' to 'friends' while content can also remain private. Facebook prompts users to adjust their settings accordingly before making use of the tool.
Typing "friends who work in Johannesburg" would bring up relevant information, depending on which users opted to make that public.
"You can still only search for what your friends have or what is published, so there are no big changes there," notes Sharman.
At the announcement of the project in January, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described the potential transformative influence of the move: "Exploring your community is a core human need, and this is the first big step we're taking in that direction."
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