When i heard about the new search feature to be implemented into Facebook, it kinda made me wonder about how long it will take before it becomes the most used (or abused) feature on the social media platform.
Features is the new search engine for Facebook and is only available in the US for now (whyyyy??) and being in the Beta stage is being allowed for limited users (still only in the US). By now you should know that Facebook is much like a social graph where all of its 1billion+ users are mapped based on how they relate to each other. In a nut shell because of all the information you entered in about yourself, all the check-ins you and 999,999 other users have made in all kinds of places, your relationship status, photos you have tagged your family and friends on, the cute dog you shared and tagged someone one, a video you liked, etc its now going to be easier to search for anything shared with you or you with others. Makes sense? But of course you can control what you see or what others will find out about you based on your Privacy settings.
Whilst i cant wait to try this feature out ( i have placed myself on the Waiting List) i couldn't help but wonder if Facebook doesnt eventually churn out to be a DateBook. I mean this Graph Search can be used to find your future ex-wife or your happily ever after partner based on how you search. For e.g. if you type My Friends who are Single and Live in Tema you will get a list of such persons easily! Because out of your 2000 friends definitely a few hundreds when filling in their details for sign-up will include where they live, their singlehood relationship status, their interests etc. This will be a means of ending your 'gnashing' phase. Again, you will be able to search for People who listen to Bob Marley or People who watch Adventure Movies. So by the time you actually meet someone, you know some things about them without them telling you unless of course they lied about it in the first place (which some do to draw attention to themselves). So out of the list that is generated, you can see what your friends or would-be friends like in terms of their interests. Whilst you are doing the same, others can also find things you have shared with them ever since you joined Facebook.
Be creative when doing a Graph Search. Lets say...Friends who listen to Sarkodie or People who like dancing Azonto; Friends who eat at Agba Mami; Churches My Friends Have Been To; Singles in Osu; Divorcees/Widowers in Nigeria or even Friends in Complicated Relations :D
Apart from you looking for places to eat, cool places to visit or that girl you have been meaning to chat with i believe marketers are going to have a field day as they can now target their fan base by narrowing down their search options. Once again if you have a public profile and everything you do is in the public domain. Dont be surprised to be seeing ads of consumerables that you love being displayed on your homepage. This feature is also going to a huge opportunity for business pages in Facebook. If you have a business page ensure that all your information is up to date because once the business shows up in someones search trust me, you want to look good.
I mentioned an abuse of this feature because like everything else especially on social media, there will be instances of people searching for explicit and adult content or searching for young people to exploit. The dangers of social media are really a worry and serious control must be put in place to curb this. Hopefully, spams will not be created due to this feature.
Its too bad that the Beta version is for the US users only. I would have given you screenshots of how it all works out. But here is one which i tried on the Introduction to Graph Search and this is what i got... Its weird how they pulled my Photographer friends as People in my City. Hmm..
As i said it all depends on your Privacy Settings which if you have set to Public on some things will enable people to locate you as such. Here is to the full rollout of Graph Search. *Drumroll*