Okay Geek Farm
The potential of Facebook search
Chris Self
Facebook has been growing rapidly since its start in 2004 and is now valued at a staggering $50 billion. It’s April 2011 and they’ve surpassed Google in page views. Because of how widely they’ve grown, it’s never been easier to share your social life online with friends accross multiple devices. So what if they took on Google and did search right? Would the internet giant fall into the deep cracks of the internet and be forgotten?
Google Search now
Results
Out of all its competitors, like Bing and Yahoo, Google has come out on top when it comes to search. However, within the past few months, many users have reported that their search results are now being flooded with spam and unuseful links. If you aren’t convince that this could be true, here’s a short excerpt from an article written by our very own, Connor Scalleat.
“Personally, I use Google 24/7 and I tried Bing for a couple days and just couldn’t get into it. Using Google constantly I’ve noticed the massive amount of spam that I am currently receiving. From companies rigging Google’s system, to crap sponsored results and things completely not relevant at all to what I’m looking for — in the end it’s all just plain spam. And for some, it might be a stretch to believe that Google would have to rig their own results, but they do so constantly. Google made a statement to the New York Times stating that they modified (their) algorithm to stop rewarding websites that were using immoral practices to boost business.
Design
It’s been mentioned time after time that Google’s design has never been too outstanding. Sure, the site is extremely simple and clean, but it’s extremely bland and boring to look at. I’m sure many of us would like to see some eye candy. Without a doubt, there are designers working at Google but in order to keep bringing users back, give us something great to look at. It make sense from many perspectives.
Potential of Facebook Search
The best way to describe the potential of Facebook search is best in the form of a scenaro. So let’s say you’d like to find a farmer’s market in your local area. You search “farmer’s market” and a few appear in your local area appear in a list. Here you could view the number of friends who have visited that location by checking in with a location service. Then you could click on a location and more information would drop down. Comments and ratings are just the beginning of what could be done and one can only imagine the amount of rich content you could find here.
If you’re interested, you could then print directions or have them sent directly to your iPhone for turn-by-turn navigation. The possibilities are endless as this could work for a variety of locations such as restraunts, movie theaters, retail store and who knows, maybe websites. However, this day and age, displaying every website you visit is not something people are comfortable with just yet. And right now, many people still aren’t comfortable with the idea of sharing their basic information of Facebook alone.
Google’s Falling Behind
With Facebook growing and Google remaining stragnant, it’s clear they will fall behind. Seeing tweets on “Buzz” right next to your inbox is not enough socialization for most people. Algorithms are being gamed and search results are being filled with spam and useless links. It’s clear Google needs to step back and take a look at a more a more logical business approach. It’s has to be hard for them to grasp hold of that idea with Facebook already dominating and they took a stab an excessful stab with Buzz, but the wound healed quickly. Some could even say that ten or fifteen years from now, Google would be gone. Facebook has a huge opprotunity to do it right before Google does and they certainly have the user base. Like everything else, we’ll just have to wait and see.
