Whether with pictures of puppies or misspelled status updates, many begin and end their day on Facebook. The many ways to customize a user’s profile allows “friends” to gain vast insight into his or her life and interests.

Last week, Facebook introduced Graph Search as a new way to “find people who share your interests.”

Facebook product manager Keith Peiris said in a video on Facebook’s website that Graph Search could solve  “the nuanced and social questions that you wouldn’t typically ask a search engine.” Search queries such as “friends who have been to Fenway Park” or “friends of friends who attended Syracuse University” demonstrate the power of this new Facebook feature.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a video that Graph Search is the third pillar of the Facebook ecosystem – the other two pillars are Newsfeed and Timeline. The Newsfeed feature allows users to explore what is happening and being shared by friends. Timeline, launched in September 2011, affords users the ability to curate events and posts as they happen.

Graph Search provides a dialogue between corporations and consumers. According to Facebook, the social network has surpassed one trillion connections between corporate brands, personal profiles and fan pages. When Graph Search finishes its testing, companies and consumers alike will discover if the new function can help them build connections.

While social media data is generated on an endless news cycle, it has been challenging for marketers to harness or search this abundant resource, according to a Jan. 15 AdAge article.

Graph Search will likely allow marketers to better capture their target markets by analyzing users’ connections to products and habits. These connections can fuel Facebook fan engagement and better shape rewards programs, according to a Jan. 16 AdAge article.

Traditionally, Internet marketers use cookies as a way to mine data and gain insight into consumer buying habits, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

This new search capability places Facebook in the middle of the fight for personalization. Netflix and Amazon have spent years perfecting their recommendation algorithms in order to keep customers coming back. In addition, Google revealed Search Plus Your World last year, which allows queries to include relevant data from your Google+ network, according to a Jan. 19 PCWorld article.

Graph Search has been met with some negativity. As Facebook migrates toward becoming a major search engine player, it continues to grapple with the struggles of privacy controls and customization for its users.

On Dec. 12, Mashable reported Facebook now mandates that all profiles must be searchable. As a compromise, the new privacy tools allow users to better control what personal information is available for friends and subscribers to see.

During Zuckerberg’s keynote speech, shown on Facebook’s website, he said more than 10 percent of Facebook’s computing power is devoted to privacy system checks for its users.

Published on January 21, 2013 at 10:04 pm

Contact Jared: jmrose03@syr.edu