by Rui Xu ’13

After years of preparation, Facebook has announced a new tool called “Graph Search,” by which the company aims to help its users share information on everything they want. Graph Search is Facebook’s most ambitious move in competing with Google’s web search and other searching tools.

Graph Search is a searching tool that answers questions using information in your social network, unlike web searches which give you just a bunch of website links. Facebook introduces Graph Search as a new way to “find people who share your interests,” “explore your world through photos,” and to “discover restaurants, music and more.” Using Graph Search, you can search “people who like dancing”, or “photos before 2000 of New York,” you can search a restaurant to see if your friends have been there and what their comments were, and you can search for “music that my friends like recently;” the results will show up on your screen. The company believes that people are more willing to collect information and recommendations from their Facebook friends rather than strangers online or professional critics. Facebook has been prepared for years to gather just enough data for Graph Search so that users can find whatever they want to know about.

Such a fascinating and revolutionary searching tool attracts people immediately. People are expecting to use Graph Search. Kelly O’Donnell ’13, a regular Facebook user who checks Facebook at least five times a day, thinks it is a “cool” thing. “I think I will like Graph Search because it is easy to compare things. I trust my friends.”

However, many people have concerns about their privacy issues. Lucy Du ’14 says “I am worried because my opinions are showed to many people [using Graph Search]. And people would know where have I been and what I have done.” On this particular concern, Mr. Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, reassures, “the search we wanted to build is privacy-aware. On Facebook, most of the things people share with you aren’t public.” People will only be able to see opinions and photos if users want to share.

Many critics see Graph Search as a much more powerful and useful searching tool than an ordinary key word search. Some people even call Graph Search “the future of search.” Even though Lucy doesn’t check Facebook very often, both she and Kelly showed interest in using Graph Search. The company is hoping to shake the market of searching business that have been occupied by its biggest rival, Google, and other searching companies like Yelp for restaurants. The introduction of Graph Search will distinguish Facebook from Google, but is not likely to enormously affect Google’s business in finding information in specific areas. Lucy says, “I think the resources from Facebook are less [useful] than Google’s because Google has information from thousands of different websites. I only get information from my friends on Facebook, which is a comparatively smaller number,” while Kelly says, “Once I figure out which one is easier, I will pick one.” It seems that Graph Search will change people’s way of searching profoundly, but not completely.

Graph Search is now available to a limited number of Facebook users. Users can sign up for the waiting list on Facebook, and very soon all users will be able to join Graph Search. Let us wait and see how it will change our lives.