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Facebook unveils new search capabilities
Do you think Graph Search
will be useful?
“It is good in case you have a hobby or you want to go
on a specific adventure and people might help you... But in
general this will be for a short term and then you will forget
about it when you are done with your search.”
Elise Zwein, Country Manager, Action Qatar
“I don’t think Graph Search will be useful, but it might be
A
t a mysterious press conference on January 15, Mark Zucker- entertaining. Everyone is not going to update what they like
berg announced a new Facebook search feature. Called Graph doing just because that option is available to them. I am
Search, the addition allows users to more easily access facts highly cynical about how people will respond to that.”
and photos belonging to friends. Alanna Alexander, Northwestern University in Qatar
The technology isn’t widely available yet. It’s still in the early student
development stages. It can only be browsed in English for a
small amount of content. “I don’t think Graph Search will be useful to me...because
From a larger search bar at the top of any Facebook page, users can search in I am a very private person and do not share many photo-
categories like “restaurants nearby”, “music my friends like” or “photos of my graphs on FB and also have a circle of friends I interact with
friends”, according to a recent Facebook press release. But the search can get often enough.”
even more specific. For example, a search for “photos of friends in London” could Tusilya Muthukumar, Freelancer
bring up albums from every person on your friends list who has posted pictures
“It wouldn’t be particularly useful, however I may refer to it
in London. On the right side of the page options for narrowing down the search
for ideas if needed. I would probably check it out for ideas
are displayed. If you’re searching for people, filter by “gender”, “likes”, “employer”
for holidays... or reference to useful information such as
and many other criteria.
gyms.”
“Which is more valuable? Finding a sushi restaurant in New York City or finding
Elizabeth Fleming, Marketing Director of the Qatar
one that my friends like?” Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner Inc., said to
Development and Consultancy Centre
Bloomberg.com. “This continues to pit Facebook against Google.”
It’s easy to assume that Graph Search is the same as Google or any other search “I think if Graph Search had been available when I reached
engine, but through Facebook. However, the two styles of searching are vastly Qatar in 2004 it would have helped me a lot to know more
different. For one, Zuckerberg’s new search draws from separate pools of con- about the country and know more friends faster.”
tent, depending on which user clicks “enter”. Friends’ private content may come Mohamed Samy, account manager for Action Qatar
up for your search, but it won’t if the person browsing isn’t friends with them.
It doesn’t access anything new; it just makes finding information easier. Also, “Social networks like Facebook have moved from being a
searching the web is about taking key words and finding sites that match them. social place to a search network, due to the abundance of
Graph Search combines a set of traits or phrases (“people who live in Doha and data which is available on them. Graph Search will enable
enjoy cycling”) to find “that set of people, places, photos or other content that’s users to...extract data points that they really want, adding
been shared on Facebook”, the press release says. tremendous value in today’s day and age of big data.”
Manik Kinra, Chief Executive Officer of Mixilion.com
74 Qatar Today february 2013
