Facebook announced that Graph Search will be rolling out over the next few weeks to everyone who uses Facebook in U.S. English. The feature is a sophisticated search engine within Facebook which makes it easier to find specific photos and text or information from friendsâ profiles and posts, and provides âa new way to find people, photos, places and interests on Facebook.â
Now finding a friendâs memorable status should be quick work without any soul-crushing clicking and scrolling and sifting, and searching in the new toolbar will make it easy to find 2nd-degree connections with mutual interests, if you make unique queries like âPeople who like extreme ironing in Los Angeles.â (Finally!)
Why Is Facebook Doing It?
You probably know already: Advertising! Building connections between the incredible amounts of data on Facebook is no small feat, so it must have been work done with shareholders and revenue in mind. By making such data searchable for Facebook users, Facebook has also made this data accessible for advertisers, who will be able to reach demographics more niche than ever before. Imagine it: Instead of targeting users based only on their âlikesâ, theyâll be targeting users based on the content of their statuses and posts, the content of their closest friendsâ statuses and posts, the search queries they make, etc., etc. Graph Search will make a lot more public data available for advertising algorithms and marketers.
How Should You Use It?
Because Graph Search can be used with such a high degree of granularity (e.g.: âSingle women in Colorado who are of age 25 and like scuba divingâ, if you want to make it kinda creepy), it becomes a valuable tool for business owners and Page managers. If you have a specific service or product, there will be no hassle in finding your first group of potential fans. Opening a gluten-free cupcake shop in Tallahassee? Well, find out who likes gluten-free cupcakes in Tallahassee and let them know about your business! After youâve built up an audience, you can create some Facebook advertisements and hopefully receive a better return on your investment than in the past, thanks to those aforementioned algorithms.
WaitâŠ..So Is Everything I Write Public?
A key to Graph Searchâs efficacy is the amount of public data that users have on their profiles, and the key to how much data users keep public may be how little users know is public by default. There are probably a lot of people out there who donât want their name appearing as a search result, but they might not know how findable they really are.
Just two weeks ago, a mobile developer in Dallas exploited Graph Search to compile a database of thousands of Facebook users and their cell phone numbers, scraping only the public information associated with their accounts. (Is that âSingle womenâ search creepier now?)
Things could get messy if employers are able to find job candidatesâ profiles using only their phone numbers (as the Dallas developer posits), or if high school pranksters can find a userâs number after searching through their profile data. Itâs important to go through your own information and guard any information youâd like to keep to yourself, because a lot of data will be public until you change your settings.
Questions? Hit us up at www.socialincite.com.au
Social Incite Team
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