Facebook introduced a new Graph Search on January 15, 2013. At the unveiling of the new software, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the latest introduction is a great leap forward for search. It allows Facebook members to look into their friend preferences for restaurants, vacations, career choices, and others to get ideas for themselves before venturing into the massive Worldwide Web.
Facebook, Google and others gather vast amount of data from the users. Based on the information already collected from the users, Facebook’s new service will provide a list of recommendations. If no matches available, then the Facebook will look into the Internet to obtain recommendations. Facebook also intend to expand the service to mobile devices which will be somewhat similar to “nearby” service that is already introduced on smartphones and other mobile devices.
Facebook has not indicated whether they will sponsor ads on the new service or not. Critics and privacy advocates are already raising concerns about the new service. Google stores all search related data. Facebook takes the stored data one step further than Google by analyzing data and coming up with a set of recommendations. The new service will be a wealth information for law enforcement.