By Dominic Joseph
At around this time last year, Facebook introduced a US beta version of Graph Search. The new tool enabled Facebook to generate user-specific search results for the first time, meaning that people could access information that their friends had shared in relation to specific search queries, so for example, ‘restaurants in London recommended by my friends’.
Graph Search has been rolled out slowly over the past year, but it marks the beginning of Facebook’s ambition to become a source of information for people as well as a social network. So much so, that many have speculated as to whether this functionality could drive Facebook into competition with search engines, like Google, Yahoo and Bing. But what’s interesting about Graph Search from my point of view, is its ability to establish consumer intent.
Search is by far the most powerful expression of consumer intent and so Graph Search might just be a platform on which Facebook builds out a new advertising revenue stream. Right now, Facebook serves up advertising based on the information added to profiles; simple things like age, sex and location. However, if the social networking giant was to integrate keyword search advertising into Graph Search, consumers would be served more relevant advertising and brands would get a healthier return on their investment.
Serving ads based on search data is the most efficient display channel at prospecting customers and driving conversions, because it captures their attention at the moment of intent. It’s simple really, people are more likely to act on ads that are relevant to them; we know it works because we do it every day!
Delivering on its ‘Mobile First’ rhetoric, Facebook began trialling Graph Search for mobile with a minority of users in February this year. Facebook’s immediate priority is successfully rolling the function out across more countries, languages and platforms, but it will be interesting to see how it develops as a search engine in its own right.
If it does start becoming a key source of information for consumers, Mark Zuckerberg and his team could spot the potential and begin introducing ads based on users searches. Only time will tell.
