We’ve all done it. Maybe it was looking up a potential job candidate on Facebook before actually meeting her to get a sense of her personality. Or maybe you want to have some talking points before reaching out to that cute guy in your Intro to Cultural Anthropology class. Whatever your reason, Facebook makes it possible to see what music Mr. Cultural Anthro likes and what Ms. Job Interview’s going-out habits are. Facebook stalking has just gotten even easier with the new Facebook Graph Search. Now, search phrases such as “Where have my friends eaten in London?” and “What books are most commonly read among my friends?” will show quick and precise results.
Too creepy? Well in Facebook’s defense, it’s already pretty easy to access information about pretty much anyone you’re connected to on Facebook—it’s just compiling everything to make for instant gratification. Besides, aren’t we more or less trained to enjoy instant gratification? Who doesn’t love getting a notification? There are few everyday things that make you more excited than seeing that globe in the left corner of the screen light up red. Facebook Graph Search will definitely affect search engines with a social media aspect—namely Bing.
One of the only differentiating factors dividing Bing and Google is that Bing takes your social networks into account with your search. For instance, if you’re looking for a good restaurant in Brooklyn, not only will Bing give you a list of highly rated restaurants by random people on the Internet, it will also bring up tweets and Facebook posts about said restaurant. Facebook has already destroyed the once hugely popular instant messaging platform, AIM. Why not take away Bing’s only differentiating factor, too?
