Facebook has started to roll out its Graph Search update to users in North America. Also a few minutes ago I got an alert on my Facebook page notifying me (in the UK) that "Graph Search is rolling out now". What is Graph Search and what does it mean to Facebook users?
Facebook Graph Search is a new way of searching for stuff from Facebook. It lets you query data associated with your friends (and strangers too) so it offers much more social insight than an everyday search engine. However the search box on the Facebook page also still works in a regular way by integration with Microsoft's Bing for general web searches etc.
Phrases that will trigger Graph Search often include the words "friends", "family", "people", "like", so Facebook knows you are asking about the data it holds upon your contacts. Once Graph Search comes online for you you will be able to ask things such as "which of my friends lives in Manchester?" and get a meaningful answer. I just tried it on my Facebook and despite the heads-up that the facility is "rolling out now", and having some friends in Manchester, the search was not done through Facebook Graph Search so resulted in "No results found for your query" and a suggestion I try searching the web via Bing.
The new search facility can go beyond your friends and people you know on Facebook. For example you can search for "people" and filter them by interests, places, photos and so on. This is probably the most controversial aspect of the new Graph Search - if Facebook users have until now not opted to limit the visibility of their posts etc they will be now easily searchable by random strangers. Facebook anticipated people wanting to more easily change the privacy settings and wrote about Better Controls for Managing Your Content last December. Also an official page about managing your privacy is here.
Fliike: a Facebook like counter gadget
On a more light-hearted note, a new gadget caught my eye which displays a live count of your page/businesses like tally. Fliike is the "first connected object that displays the number of Facebook fans". You plug it in and connect it to your Wi-Fi network and it starts to count all the new likes your page attracts, updating live. It's nicely retro with a rotating number display rather than one of the LCD or LED variety.
VentureBeat reckon it will appeal to small businesses which might pop one in the shop window, or internet marketing types who can monitor their social network growth. But what about if your Facebook page has got over 99,999 likes? The HEXUS Facebook page will surpass that number shortly! Such popular pages/people can custom order a Fliike with another digit or two. Fliike units will start to ship from October 2013.
