But as this piece on Wired points out, it goes even further than that.
Facebook created the search function to solve a specific problem – sorting through your Facebook friends is a huge task, especially if you have several hundred. As the piece rightly points out, Google has been dreading this day for a while. Google’s data can’t access Facebook, and now, Facebook has the ability to search through it in detail.
Zuckerberg is still adamant the product isn’t web search – but he also says the product can do something no other company can.
“All those other services are indexing primarily public information, and stuff in Facebook isn’t out there in the world — it’s stuff that people share.”
“There’s no real way to cut through the contents of what people are sharing, to fulfil big human needs about discovery, to find people you wouldn’t otherwise be connected with. And we thought we should do something about that. We’re the only service in the world that can do that.”
The story of the product begins in 2011, when Zuckerberg asked former Google employee Lars Rasmussen to join him for a discussion. Rasmussen, who has previously worked in Australia, was part of the team which originally created Google Maps and Google Wave.
Rasmussen worked on Facebook Search for more than a year, until 50 engineers were working on the project. It became clear the project was so big it would require an update to the entire site.
A demonstration shown to Wired provides a good reason for several sites to worry – Facebook allows you to search for potential employees, photos of your family members, and even potential dating partners.
And while Zuckerberg is still saying this is different from Google, he doesn’t hesitate when asked whether the number of queries could match the search giant.
“Hopefully, over time,” he says. “But we’re building this because we think it’ll be something that people want to use.”
Google should be worried. Check out the story for an in-depth look at the future of search.
The YouTube revolution
Here at Best of the Web we’ve highlighted a few articles that have examined the way YouTube is changing, but this feature at the New Yorker deserves a look.
It’s no secret the company is looking to emphasise its “channels”, hubs of content designed by people who don’t have access to the Hollywood machine.
YouTube is aiming to change the way we consume content. Rather than have the television when we can watch certain shows, a video sharing site has the ability to open up new avenues of media consumption.
The man responsible for a lot of YouTube’s growth is Sala Kamangar, but he says in this piece he has a specific challenge – to get people watching entire programs. The longer people stay, the more money Google makes from ads.
“Our data suggests TV watching is on the rise,” he said. “It seems to have increased from four to five hours in recent years, and we think it will keep increasing. Screen time in general will increase. I wake up with a Droid next to my bed, and I immediately look into the screen for my instructions.”
“That’s the trend – more screen time – and we think that will benefit YouTube.”
If you’re a YouTube user, then you’d better check this one out – you might notice some of these changes occur over the next few years, or even months.
