Facebook unveils social search tools for users

Facebook unveils social search tools for users By Dave Lee Technology Reporter 15 January 2013 Last updated at 18:24 The search tool can handle natural language queries Facebook has announced a major addition to its social network - a smart search engine it has called graph search. The feature allows users to make "natural" searches of content shared by their friends. Search terms could include phrases such as "friends who like Star Wars and Harry Potter". Founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg insisted it was not a web search, and therefore not a direct challenge to Google. However, it was integrating Microsoft's Bingsearch engine for situations when graph search itself could not find answers. Mr Zuckerberg said he "didnot expect" people to startflocking to Facebook to do web search. "That isn't the intent," he said. "But in the event youcan't find what you're looking for, it's really nice to have this." Finding folks Earlier speculation had suggested that the world'sbiggest social network wasabout to make a long-anticipated foray into Google's search territory. "We're not indexing the web," explained Mr Zuckerberg at an event at Facebook's headquarters in California. "We're indexing our map of the graph - the graph isreally big and its constantly changing." In Facebook's terms, the social graph is the name given to the collective poolof information shared between friends that are connected via the site. It includes things such as photos, status updates, location data as well as thethings they have "liked". Until now, Facebook's search had been highly criticised for being limited and ineffective. It's going to help drive connections within the network between individuals and between companies and pages Mark Little, Ovum The company's revamped search was demonstrated to be significantly more powerful. In one demo, Facebook developer Tom Stocky showed a search for queries such as"friends of friends who aresingle in San Francisco". The same technology couldbe used for recruitment, he suggested, using graphsearch to find people who fit criteria for certain jobs - as well as mutual connections. Such queries are a key function of LinkedIn, the current dominant network for establishing professional connections. "We look at Facebook as abig social database," said Mr Zuckerberg, adding thatsocial search was Facebook's "third pillar" and stood beside the newsfeed and timeline as the foundational elements of the social network. Perhaps mindful of privacyconcerns highlighted by recent misfires on policies for its other services suchas Instagram, Facebook stressed that it had put limits on the search system. "On graph search, you canonly see content that people have shared with you," developer Lars Rasmussen, who was previously the co-founder of Google Maps, told reporters. Test case Mark Little, principal analyst at research firm Ovum, said he was"underwhelmed" by the announcement. "I think probably people were looking for somethinga little bit more strategic," he said, adding that graph search might well be a bridge to a more comprehensive search offering in the future. Play The BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones explains how the new search tool will work "On the plus side I think it's going to help drive connections within the network between individuals and between companies and pages," he said. "If you are increasingconnections between friends and pages you areeffectively increasing the reach of advertisers." In his demonstration, Mr Stocky showed how graph search could help any attempt to go back over old content that a user may want removed. For instance, it could let someone use search queries - such as picturestaken at a certain location,such as a night club - and untag them en masse. Mr Zuckerberg said that graph search would launchimmediately as a beta test,and would roll out "very slowly". The tool will be usable from the blue banner that sits at the top of every Facebook page. "We're going to put an encouragement on the home screen of everyone's account so that everyone has the chance to look through these tools. "We're going to do this before graph search is fully rolled out."