Finding Answers in the Social Graph: Facebook's Ambitions in Search

In the coming years, Facebook plans to leverage its vast user data to transform the way we search for information and interact with it. By 2015, Facebook made it clear that they were ready to push beyond their current search engine capabilities to offer a more comprehensive and social search experience. However, the question remains: will Facebook launch a standalone search engine, and if not, what exactly can we expect from their evolving search strategy?

The Current Landscape

Today, Facebook has a search engine tailored for their own platform, which, while functional, comes up short in terms of user satisfaction. As of 2012, Mark Zuckerberg confirmed during the SF Disrupt conference that Facebook was already processing 1 billion queries per month. This massive volume of data provides a solid foundation for any search initiative, offering Facebook an unparalleled opportunity to mine user intent and preferences.

Monetization and Beyond

Facebook’s recent focus on monetization strategies, such as Sponsored Stories and the FBX Ad Exchange, has only heightened their ambition to expand their search efforts. One of the low-hanging fruits available to Facebook is to mine user intent from the over one billion searches conducted every month on their platform. This presents a significant opportunity to enhance both the quantity and quality of search results, particularly for commercial queries.

Henry Blodget's recent plea highlights the immediate opportunity Facebook has to leverage user data for better search results. By monetizing search externally, Facebook can gain more room to expand the scope and quality of their search results, potentially leading to a more integrated and social search experience. This transition would mark the beginning of a new category in search engines: true social search, where users rely on the confidence and trust of their friends and connections in making purchasing decisions.

Expanding Scope and Social Integration

While a standalone, traditional search engine like current SERPs may not be in the cards, Facebook is clearly positioning itself to offer valuable search and discovery features that enhance the user's ability to find answers to questions within the content consumption experience on and off the platform. Leveraging the interest graph on top of the social graph can provide a unique relevance algorithm that significantly changes how we think about searching for answers and discovering information.

The right user interface (UI) and engagement experience are crucial elements to be determined. Companies like Aplture and others are currently experimenting with new UIs that better integrate search with social interactions. This approach could redefine how users interact with information, enhancing the overall user experience and potentially reshaping the future of search engines.

Conclusion

Facebook’s ambitious plans in the realm of search mark a significant shift in how we think about online search. While the company’s focus will remain on enhancing their existing search capabilities, their ultimate goal is to provide a more personalized and social search experience. This evolution is likely to transform the way we search and interact with the vast amounts of information available on the internet, making the search process more intuitive and user-centric.