Following Facebook's announcement of Graph Search a few weeks back, there's been no shortage of analysis and speculation on what the move will mean for Facebook, its users, marketers and possible Facebook competitors, including the traditional search engines. At least in one arena, we can try to put some specific numbers together to shed some light on the potential here. A Brief History Of Bing & Facebook First, some background: Since 2008, Microsoft has been providing Web search results for Facebook along with search ads to monetize them. That seems to be news to a lot of people, [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Enterprise SEM | Facebook: Facebook Search | Microsoft: Bing

  Unless they've been living in a cave, all marketers recognize the value and potential return from engaging with Facebook users. With its vast following of more than a billion people, its multi-faceted and highly targeted advertising options, and the recent introduction of its Graph Search feature, Facebook is a must-do, must-leverage, must-succeed channel for any serious online marketer. To partially quote master strategist Winston Churchill, Facebook can seem like "an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, surrounded by mystery." To be sure, garnering "likes" is huge for supercharging or [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | SEM Industry: Conferences | SMX & DMD Alerts

That didn't take long, did it? Tom Scott, one of the current users of Facebook Graph Search, has started a Tumblr blog to document its potential privacy train wrecks. "I just got Graph Search and it's actually so creepy that I've started this Tumblr to document it," Scott wrote on Facebook yesterday. His blog offers examples of searches that are a mix of comedy and creepiness, in my opinion. He has things like "Single women who live nearby and who are interested in men and like Getting Drunk," "Mothers of Jews who like Bacon" and this one below, "Married people who like Prostitutes ... t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Facebook: Facebook Search | Legal: Privacy | Top News

Welcome to 2013 folks, the year that programmatic marketing and big data will dominate the thoughts of smart marketers, now with the additive known as FBX, or the Facebook Exchange. Anything this big and new is bound to cause disruption, and therefore opportunity, and so let’s look at how you can take advantage of it. What Is The Facebook Exchange (FBX)? In some ways, FBX is another media exchange like the GDN, AdMeld, RightMedia etc., an open marketplace where display media ads are bought and sold using RTB (Real Time Bidding). As opposed to many different domains being aggregated toge [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Search & Display

[Ed. note: This is the first of what will be an ongoing interview series called "5 Questions With...," in which we'll publish brief interviews with interesting and important online marketing newsmakers. Depending on the topic, the interviews may be published on Search Engine Land or Marketing Land and, depending on the topic and interview subject, we may occasionally ask more than five questions.] Facebook made a splash this week when it announced Graph Search, an upgrade to its long-neglected search tool. It's very much a beta product. Facebook emphasized that the product will expand to in [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook: Facebook Search | Features: 5 Questions With | Features: General | Search Engines: Social Search Engines | Top News

We've covered the launch of Facebook Graph Search, explored how it differs from Google search but now it's time for the hands-on. Come along for a tour of how it works. Sign-Up & Wait  To get started, you have to sign-up, where you'll be added to a waiting list. There's no particular ETA of when you'll actually have it enabled: Expect it to likely take days and possibly weeks, especially if you're late to signing-up. But when it happens, you'll see a notice like this: The New Search "Box" That's Not A Box Once you've turned on Graph Search, you'll see the old-style search box g [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Facebook: Facebook Search | Features: Analysis | Top News

With today's announcement of the new Facebook Graph Search, many business owners will eventually be wondering, "How do I make sure my business gets found in Facebook search?" Never fear: Facebook itself has already shared a few tips to help make that happen. We'll get to that below, but first a quick bit of background that's good to know. What Business Owners Need To Know About Facebook Graph Search Facebook Graph Search could eventually become a fairly effective local search/recommendations engine. Here are a couple things to know before we get to Facebook's visibility tips: Although [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Facebook: Facebook Search | Facebook: SEO | Features: Analysis | Top News

At long last, Facebook's search challenge to Google has arrived. But it has arrived in a much different format than many expected. Indeed, Facebook's not using its data to provide a better search than Google. Facebook is providing a new type of search that you simply can't do on Google or anywhere else. The Connections Of Links Vs. Likes I've struggled with how to describe this new service. I hate the term "graph," whether it's used by Facebook for "Social Graph" and now for "Facebook Graph Search" or Google for "Knowledge Graph." To the ordinary person, I feel "graph" is a noise word, sayin [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Facebook: Facebook Search | Features: Analysis | Top News

After largely ignoring that little white box at the top of its interface for years, Facebook is finally getting serious about search. The company announced today a new experience that it's calling Facebook Graph Search. It relies heavily on "Likes" and other connections to determine what to show as the most relevant search results for each user. It also offers what you might think of as search filters -- the ability to search based on the vast user data that Facebook has in its system (or "graph," as they like to say). Graph Search and web search are very different. Web search is design [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Facebook: Facebook Search | Top News

For the fourth straight year, "facebook" was the most common search term in the U.S. this year -- part of an increase in navigational searching that saw one-word searches rise 16 percent in 2012. That's according to Experian Marketing Services, which announced its list of 2012's top search terms today. The data covers search activity on more than 60 search engines and website visits between January and November of this year, but doesn't include mobile searches or traffic. Experian says "facebook" accounted for 4.13 percent of all searches, a 33 percent increase over 2011. Other Faceb [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Features: General | Stats: Hitwise | Stats: Search Behavior | Top News

Foursquare has made a quick response to Monday's announcement of Facebook Nearby, with its own announcement today that Foursquare Explore is cranking up its personalization. The irony? It's going to use Foursquare activity from a user's Facebook friends to improve the recommendations in Explore. Think of it as Foursquare judo: It's using Facebook data to battle against Facebook itself. Touché! Here's Foursquare's explanation of how it's using Facebook to turn up the personalization dial: When your Facebook friends do public things on Foursquare, like write a tip, like a place, or ta [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Foursquare | Search Engines: Location / Checkin Services | Search Engines: Maps & Local Search Engines | Search Features: Search History & Personalization | Top News

As of today, you can count Facebook as a potentially significant new competitor in local search -- on mobile devices. The company is updating the "Nearby" feature in its iOS and Android apps Nearby Becomes Local Search Tool Previously Nearby was about finding where your friends had checked-in. After the app update Nearby will still show you where your friends have checked-in. But now, more importantly, it will also show you nearby businesses and other places ranked by various criteria. It becomes a local search and discovery tool. You'll be able to search or browse in the new UI to find l [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Foursquare | Top News

The world, it seems, just cannot wait for Facebook to come along and start its own search engine and knock Google off the top of search mountain. The rumors and expectations of this go back for years. Now the latest twist: Yahoo and Facebook will team up together. If you're banking on that potential alliance taking out Google, much less Bing, let me offer up a reality check. Report: Yahoo & Facebook Talking Search Let's start with the current news that has various tech blogs lighting up over the possibilities. The Telegraph, citing anonymous sources, reports that Yahoo CEO Marissa May [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Features: Analysis | Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal | Top News | Yahoo: Business Issues | Yahoo: Search

Facebook announced users will soon be able to delete their search activity under their "Activity Log." The feature is being released over the next couple weeks to all Facebook users. Currently, Facebook users are able to delete other activity, like status updates, under the Activity Log. Now, Facebook will be allowing you to do the same for your searches. Here is a screen shot of how it will look: Facebook said: Starting today, in addition to your other activity, you'll be able to see the searches you're making on Facebook. Just as you can choose to delete any of your posts, you [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Top News

It's no secret that Facebook's existing search engine is bad; that drum has been beaten to death. But you don't have to wait for Facebook to make it better; there's a pretty darn good Facebook search engine out there now. It's called Trove, and it's officially launching on Tuesday. But you can connect your Facebook account and get started now; the site had a soft launch about two weeks ago. I've been testing it, and it's easily the best Facebook search experience I've seen. There are a few missing features that I'll mention below, but Trove's potential is obvious. Seth Blank, Trove's fou [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Features: Analysis | Search Engines: Social Search Engines | Top News

Waiting for a Facebook search engine? Eventually, it'll arrive, says Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. But it might not be what you expect. Speaking in an interview today at TechCrunch Disrupt with Mike Arrington, Zuckerberg said that Facebook is doing a billion searches per day, "and we're not even trying." Most searches are, as we’ve heard in the past, really people searching for other people. But there are also searches for brands. "There’s a big opportunity there," Zuckerberg said, of going beyond people search. But the opportunity might not be to build a search engines as they� [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Facebook | Features: Analysis | Google: Search Plus Your World | Google: Social Search | Microsoft: Bing Social Search | Search Engines: Social Search Engines | Top News

Search marketer ears likely perked up to hear that Facebook launched search advertising this week. But anyone who's expecting it to be similar to AdWords or adCenter is going to be disappointed. Actually, it's more akin to other forms of Facebook advertising, despite appearing in search results. Consider these typical AdWords ads: They appear above or to the right of search results. In contrast, the new Facebook Sponsored Results appear within the search box, as suggestions when you type: Beyond placement, Facebook's search ads can't be targeted to keywords, as can Google's ads, nor c [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Facebook | Features: Analysis | Google: AdWords | Social Media Marketing | Top News

[caption id="attachment_130897" align="alignright" width="192" caption="Walled garden"][/caption] Facebook has earned its reputation as an AOL-like walled garden by keeping most of the content generated within Facebook hidden from those who haven't logged in. Not only does a login screen stop general Internet users from viewing Facebook content without logging in, it also impedes search engine indexing. Currently, Google can index: a limited view of Facebook user profiles "Fan" Pages, including user posts Facebook comments left on third-party sites At one point in time, sea [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Facebook | Google: Real Time Search | Google: Social Search | Google: Web Search | Search & Social

Do you spit out status updates on Facebook for your local business without much thought? Carefully engineering your status updates can result in more effective targeting, better engagement with your audience, and improved EdgeRank to help more of your followers actually see your status updates. These tips should be considered to be "spice", rather than the meat in cooking up your Facebook contents. Use these tips with some restraint and balance or you could create fatigue for your followers, resulting in reduction of your audience engagement rather than growth of it. Increasing engagemen [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | How To | How To: Facebook | How To: Social Media Marketing | Intermediate | Local Search | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing

During last week's Facebook earnings call COO Sheryl Sandberg argued that the company could and would compete for marketing dollars "throughout the entire marketing funnel." That is, from branding and awareness at the "top" of the so-called funnel to "demand fulfillment" at the "bottom." Below is the quote in broader context: We believe we are very well positioned to compete for advertising dollars throughout the entire marketing funnel, from the very top where companies focus on generating demand, to the bottom where the focus is on fulfilling demand. The majority of the advertising spend [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Social | Facebook | Features: Analysis | Top News