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FACEBOOK IS TESTING its own search engine, which will allow users to find and post links to articles without venturing anywhere near Google.
The new feature is part of Facebook’s plan to keep internet users within its own ecosystem, stopping them from ending their mobile browsing session because of the awkward experience of finding, copying, and pasting a link from Google.
Some users of Apple’s iOS mobile system in the US can now click on a new “add a link” button, which allows them to search for the link they want to share from within Facebook’s app.
The keyword search sorts results by the likelihood they have of being shared, prioritising newer or highly shared articles. Once users have picked articles they want from the results list, they can publish comments or status updates as normal. It is not clear whether Facebook’s search engine is looking for links inside Facebook or externally on the web.
Facebook told TechCrunch it had indexed more than 1 trillion posts to find out which posts were being shared and who had shared them — data to which Google doesn’t have access.
The entire scheme is part of a larger ploy to keep users on Facebook. The social network has already announced plans to host articles natively on the News Feed and split ad revenue favourably with publishers.
If Facebook sells an ad, it will keep just 30% of its revenue, The Wall Street Journal reports. To woo publishers, the site is considering giving them 100% of revenue from ads they sell on Facebook-hosted news sites.
If it works, it will hurt Google. About 28% of all internet time is spent by users on Facebook. If Facebook search can end the need for people to look on the web for articles via Google, Facebook may steal even more of that attention.
As native advertising grows, Google’s advertising business faces more challenges on mobile especially. The company lost mobile ad market share in 2014, according to eMarketer, down to 38.2% in 2014 from 46% in 2013.
Facebook’s ad share rose to 17.4% in 2014 from 16.4% in 2013. Google has had a boost in the first three months of 2015, as the lower rates charged for mobile advertising, which had previously worried investors, were outweighed by the number of ads sold.
By making it easy to find and recommend articles and other sites, Facebook is creating an ecosystem that — the company hopes — will give users less and less reason to leave.
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At least with Google I somewhat trust them when I’m typing in all sorts of weird stuff. Not so sure I’d be the same way with Facebook.
“Your friend has just searched for Brazilian Midget Fart Videos”
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Lol best comment of the day!
Delete your Facebook you won’t miss it. Trust me.
4 months clean! I thought I’d die without it.. I don’t miss it at all! :D
Same here! It’s the work of the Devil
Nearly a year off it myself. I don’t know how I spent so much time on it before. It’s a load of shite
2 yrs off it, I’d have no twitter either if not for the journals sign up.
If you have a business page you will get enquiries and make sales through that page. I’ll miss that, so I’ll stay.
Same here… Over 2 years now and you really see what a heap of crap it is.. Hate seeing people constantly stuck to their phone looking at Facebook.. So unsociable.. Unfortunately it’s here to stay by the looks of it!
Why bother with Google when my journal.ie comrades know everything about everything?
Well…..them & the missus!
Facebook may have some good ideas but realistically they all pale in comparison to apple.
Name just one actual “Apple” design then ?
Apples OSX family is a heavily modified Linux OS to make it look pretty. Their PCs use intel processors chips like every other PC. Sure it looks pretty but you cant put in more hardware like you can in normal PCs.
Tell me what did Steve Jobs do for Apple besides being a brilliant sales man?
You are comparing Apples to oranges there Gary
In reality, none of the biggest tech companies have invented anything new. They take an existing idea, and make it better – in the case of Apple, by any factor from 10x to 100x.
It’s unanimously accepted that the term “first mover’s advantage” is a misnomer. The first mover comes up with something new, others come along and either buy them out and improve (Google’s preference – YouTube, Android), or improve on the idea (Apple’s preference – smartphones, tablets, laptops/PCs).
Apple are a phenomenal company that have delivered some remarkable products over the years. Did they come up with any of them? No. Does that make them any less successful? No. In fact, basic commercial history tells us had they been the original inventor, there’s a strong likelihood they’d either no longer exists (bust or swallowed up by someone else long ago), or continue struggling along without making any real waves in the market themselves.
Yes there are exceptions. But that’s the general rule.
“The keyword search sorts results by the likelihood they have of being shared”.
hardly reason enough to rank one thing over another, is it? surely when we search, we’re looking for unbiased articles/sources?
unless, god forbid, Facebook are more interested in making money, and they’re not quite the philanthropic outfit they paint themselves to be.
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