In another move signaling its increased focus on opening up data, Facebook is rolling out a set of enhancements to its search experience. The changes are focused on getting you to the relevant profile, page, group or event on Facebook before actually running a query.
Previously, Facebook would auto-suggest existing connections, for example, if you’re my friend and started typing “Adam …” in the search box, you’d see a link to my profile. Now, it’ll make broader recommendations based on your friend connections and what’s popular with the wider Facebook network. If this still doesn’t yield what you’re looking for, you can go to “see more results,” which takes you to Facebook’s full search results interface.
This isn’t the first time Facebook is using data in this type of fashion –- for example, users are already accustomed to seeing suggestions of people to friend based on mutual connections, and ads for Fan Pages will tell you which of your friends are already fans.
The idea with search seems to be that pulling suggestions from your extended network, which presumably has lots of like-minded people in it, will get you to what you’re looking for faster. At this point, it’s tough to say how well it works, since the feature isn’t live for everyone and is being rolled out gradually over the next few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment