The Graph Search beta is only hours old, but the potential impact to publishers and marketers is incredible. This hotsheet will explore Graph Search, outline the opportunities for publishers, marketers and technologists and provide the reader with an overview of the core features in this new and exciting product.

1. Facebook Graph Search
01/15/2013
What is Facebook Graph Search?
Facebook Graph Search is Facebook’s new search engine. Whereas popular search engines like
Google and Bing show results from across the entire web, at launch Facebook Graph Search
will show results from within Facebook. Each user will see the results visible to them from
across their social network, as well as content that has been shared publicly on Facebook.
While traditional search engines rank results by the number and quality of inbound links to
each result, Facebook Graph Search results will display based on the level of relevant
engagement from the Facebook community to each result.
For example, if I were to search for The best Mexican Restaurant in Manhattan, Facebook
Graph Search will show the restaurants with the most likes, check-ins and comments above
restaurants with less engagement.
Why is Search important to Facebook?
Graph Search presents a win-win for Facebook in terms of revenue as well as value to the
Facebook user community.
Revenue Value
From a revenue perspective, Facebook’s ads often promote native engagement (ex. likes,
comments) on publisher/brand pages. By making engagement a primary influencer on search
ranking, Facebook adds additional value to these paid engagements.
User Value
From a user perspective, this product could position Facebook an incredible go-to source for
information based on the endorsements and actions of their friends. Additionally, a dedicated
Graph Search mobile application could very well disrupt a number of industry leaders,
particularly in the location space (ex. Yelp!).
How will Graph Search work?
Graph Search appears at the top of each Facebook page. In a unique twist, Facebook invites
users to click on the header text at the top of any page and begin typing in that area. As the user
types Facebook will automatically load suggested search queries, as well as the results. The
search engine is built to handle natural language search, so people can feel free to type in an
actual question rather than a couple of words.
The results that display are enriched by key Facebook data, such as a summary of someone’s
profile alongside their profile picture. Facebook allows users to easily filter their searches
using an incredible number of additional criteria. Each filter is displayed as a drop down
option along the right side of the results page.
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2. Facebook Graph Search
01/15/2013
What opportunities does Graph Search open to
publishers and marketers?
Firstly, it is important that publishers and marketers remember that Graph Search is an
unreleased product. We do not yet know how the public will respond or how large of an
opportunity Graph Search Marketing will prove to be. That said, the same tactics that will
improve one’s Graph Search ranking will also boost the value of your social engagement, so
any efforts or funds invested will not be wasted.
Facebook is placing incredibly prominent focus on engaging people. Publishers and marketers
must focus on both growing the number of likes for their page, as well as additional likes,
comments, shares and engagement with their content. Based on the product unveiled today, a
single great meme could propel a publisher or marketer to a top search ranking. While we
anticipate that Facebook will adjust their algorithms to account for blips of activity, publishers
and marketers must focus all of their Facebook efforts on generating engagement.
Additionally, when a fan shares content, each additional like will add to the overall page
engagement and improve the pages visibility.
In today’s demo, it was clear that searches for videos include videos shared by brand pages.
Publishers and marketers should carefully consider the exponential power of images and
video, as each engagement will boost the brand page’s rank as well as improve the likelihood of
the video appearing in search results.
Additionally, all publishers and marketers should consider the role that Facebook’s Places
could play for their brand. While many would consider a dentist a service, including a Places
location on their Facebook page will increase organic Graph Search visibility. Please see the
technology opportunities question below for additional information.
Finally, publishers and marketers should consider the value of Facebook advertising to boost
likes and engagement with their pages and with their contents. This media will now serve a
dual purpose – increasing engagement with their content as well as boosting Graph Search
Visibility.
What are the technology opportunities for
publishers and marketers?
Graph Search is a huge step forward in building personalization engines on top of Facebook
data. If and when Facebook makes a Graph Search API available, developers will be able to
develop unparalleled personalization and active design tools for third party websites.
In the interim, be sure to include the appropriate social plugins on your website and list your
location in Facebook Places.
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3. Facebook Graph Search
01/15/2013
What kind of data will Facebook Graph Search cover?
At launch, Facebook Graph Search will cover four primary areas: people, photos, interests and
places.
People
This covers searches such as “Friends of friends who went to Harvard and live in Istanbul”,
which would display the results for all people who went to Harvard, live in Istanbul and are in
your extended social network.
People search could be great for social networking, recruiting or dating. For example,
recruiters who are friends with the employees could discover potential candidates who are
friends with current or past employees. Adding criteria such as positions held, universities
attended, current or previous employers could prove to be great tools for encouraging peer
recruitment. This same could method could easily be applied to dating (though likely skipping
some of academic criteria - unless that’s your thing). In this case, one could search for friends
of friends who are single, live in their area, are a certain gender and have certain interests.
This platform becomes particularly interesting as Facebook is rumored to be testing a platform
that allows users to pay for the ability to message someone outside of their network, opening
the possibility to tap into LinkedIn-like revenues.
Photos
Searches for photos allow filtering by location or type of location (ex. natural parks). This
looks to be interesting for travel planning as well as image discovery. By adding parameters
such as “Photos from friends I’ve known since before 1990” or “Photos I’ve liked” people can
gain better insight and inspiration from their own world.
Photo search includes all photos on Facebook that the user has rights to view, such as photos
that friends have shared with them and photos shared with the public. The search results are
displayed in a similar manner as leading image search providers.
Interests
Interest searches allow people to discover information about the interests shared among their
network. For example, one could search for “Movies my friends like” to find new movies to
stream on Netflix. Additionally, searching “Videos my friends have liked” will show results for
videos that can stream in Facebook.
Places
Searching for places will show listings on the left, a map on the right and a number of filtering
criteria including place type, liked by, places in a given location, and placed visited by (one’s
friends) below the map.
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4. Facebook Graph Search
01/15/2013
In this context, likes for places become endorsements by one’s friends. For example, if one
searches for a dentist in their area, the dentist with the most likes will be listed first.
Additionally, if users were to add criteria such as “Restaurants liked by graduates of the
Culinary Institute or fans of Top Chef”, Facebook could discover the restaurants most liked by
foodies. Or if one is traveling and wants to drink like a local, they can search “Bars liked by
people in Dublin”.
Places search is a strong differentiator for Facebook that could grow to become a Yelp! Or
FourSquare competitor.
How will the public respond?
Facebook Graph Search will be sure to inspire a high degree of media hype, as well as the
negatively hyped counter-coverage. It is important to remember that this is a beta product and
will evolve. Graph Search holds an incredible amount of promise and will likely delight many
while some will remain confused or frustrated while Facebook irons out the kinks.
While we have seen near constant complaints of late from many lawmakers and pundits that
Facebook doesn’t “get” privacy, Facebook looks to be planning significant and ongoing privacy
education for their users. We do not believe that privacy will be a primary concern for this
product.
Some users will likely be confused by Facebook’s lack of a search box and may not know how
to access this product. We anticipate enough media hype and in-product messaging such that
most users will grow to rely on Graph Search fairly quickly.
While the quality of the output of this product has yet to be seen, we believe that the filtering
tools on the results page could confuse or overwhelm the novice users. This however, is
speculation that may prove unfounded when the final product is launched.
One area that is sure to delight the media and inspire many a conversation, are the discovery
capabilities in Graph Search. For example, searching for “Music liked by people who like Mitt
Romney” and comparing it to “Music liked by people who like Obama” is sure to inspire some
About Wibiya
Wibiya provides web publishers with tools for smart engagement. To learn more about how
you can increase engagement on your website visit www.Wibiya.com and follow us on Twitter
at @Wibiya.
The Authors
Jon Burg @JonBurg, Alon Carmel @aloncarmel, Sivan Cohen @sivanco and @Conduit.
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