If done right, Google could soon be dethroned

House said:
I am sure that soon you will search for a friend and the results will be combined with general web results as well. The new search engine will gradually be rolled out and users will probably find it to be the only search they will need to find friends, groups, family and even general information.
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Sounds like a stalkers paradise :erm:
 
House said:
Uhm, yes, true. But this is what Facebook is about to target.

I am sure that soon you will search for a friend and the results will be combined with general web results as well. The new search engine will gradually be rolled out and users will probably find it to be the only search they will need to find friends, groups, family and even general information.
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Just to reference this as well...

I couldn't think of anything more irritating than having to use Facebook to do my web searching, or getting web results when using Facebooks search.
 
The big thing here is getting your product in front of the people. Yahoo, Alltheweb, Ask Jeeves & all the old engines we used, and liked, will find it nearly impossible to make a comeback.
Firstly none of these, and many other engines that actually worked well, has a way to put their new search engine in front of people, even if it is now working better than ever.
Secondly, even if you have a vehicle to showcase your new search engine, people will have to be positive about the way in which you present it to them. Windows found out quick enough that even if it pushes their version down our throat, people will ignore it for just that reason.

Facebook does have the vehicle to put a new search engine in front of millions. All it needs to figure out is what added value they need to incorporate into their version to make people WANT to have it as default on their browser.

I'm sure that Google can in fact be dead in a year if Zuckerberg finds the magic ingredient. People are fickle.
 
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Geriatrix said:
Wut? No-one I know uses g+. Some have an account but they're all dormant. Facebook's active as ever though.
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G+ is the linux users facebook. and as you can see it's popular as ever :p
 
This story is old news. Facebook search is pathetic. They'll need to improve massively to compete with google
 
Say what you like about Facebook being overvalued, they own a large chunk of the web-time that exists, and they have massive stickiness. I can't see another social engine dethroning them, their systems are just too far advanced and their algorithms have been perfected for years now. They have some glaring weaknesses but in the long term I'm quite bullish towards them.
 
haha I will never use facebook for search, except for the odd page that is actually on facebook, and yeah it sucks
 
I'll stick with the incumbent, thanks. What they do in the search engine space, they do very well. I don't see Facebook dethroning google...ever...
 
I can see it. If FB offered a usable web search from inside their site it seems logical the FB junkies would be inclined to use it.

They should partner with Bing or someone else with a working search engine.

I don't know that they'd ever dethrone google but they could a chunk of their traffic.
 
Nick333 said:
I can see it. If FB offered a usable web search from inside their site it seems logical the FB junkies would be inclined to use it.

They should partner with Bing or someone else with a working search engine.

I don't know that they'd ever dethrone google but they could a chunk of their traffic.
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Browsers offer built-in search boxes so adding a global search option wouldn't add any convenience factor whatsoever. There would have to be a value-add of some sorts and I can only imagine it to be based on location and profile personalisation results...
 
daveza said:
Facebook search - I've used it once or twice to find a friend or group.

And the results are always poor.
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+1

gregmcc said:
I wouldn't trust FB with any of my searches!
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Too right.

Also - those numbers for FB users in the OP - Are those the adjsuted numbers taking into consideration the amount of fake users, etc which Facebook adjusted with their IPO?

Regardless - a Facebook search engine will - as far as FB's track record goes - only serve to enhance the whole "Facebook experience" and punt their services or companies which have paid services with them. If their forced FB email was anything to go by.

Also I don't see a catch phrase coming along wrt Facebook which trumps "Let me Google that for you" :rolleyes:
 
FB been chanting this for a while. Just do it already. I agree with dj though. The problem is that they would need to replace the existing behaviour. When I search, I open a tab and type in the URL bar. Or just use the current tab. I dont actually go to google and then search. That's a waste of time. This is why google made their own browser, why it has become popular, and why other browsers have similar (omnibox) behaviour now.

For fb to beat that model, they would need to partner with a browser vendor or make their own. With the latter being the more viable option (IE already has bing). My analysis: do your own algorithms, API and browser, or you won't even get off the ground.
 
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LOL, Google has close to 1 000 000 servers (the most of any company in the world, by far) to make their services possible. Not to mention years of development and research.

I love how people who know absolutely squit about software development come out with these "news" reports or theories because they love <3 Facebook.

I don't even know how to begin to explain the financial input and expertise required to build a search engine like Google. The amount of research they put into their data centres.

We aren't even talking of the software side of deploying such a distributed and power hungry application.

But sure, keep telling yourself Google search is going to be replaced soon ;)
 
Facebook lost the battle before they even started. The moment people colloquialised the term "google" as a verb, they became the incumbent and will not be dethroned - nothing any of the other pretenders can do, they can't do better, in the search world imo...
 
Gnome said:
LOL, Google has close to 1 000 000 servers (the most of any company in the world, by far) to make their services possible. Not to mention years of development and research.

I love how people who know absolutely squit about software development come out with these "news" reports or theories because they love <3 Facebook.

I don't even know how to begin to explain the financial input and expertise required to build a search engine like Google. The amount of research they put into their data centres.

We aren't even talking of the software side of deploying such a distributed and power hungry application.

But sure, keep telling yourself Google search is going to be replaced soon ;)
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This man actually knows what he's talking about, unlike the OP. Not to mention that Google has literally been collecting search data for over a decade, so Facebook will be at least that far behind. And that's a gap they can never hope to close.
 
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