Comments on: Facebook Is No Longer Flat: On Graph Search http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=facebook-is-no-longer-flat Thoughts on the intersection of search, media, technology, and more. Thu, 23 May 2013 12:55:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Facebook Graph Search and your company’s "digital plumage" | iwantaspeaker.com http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php#comment-32723 Facebook Graph Search and your company’s "digital plumage" | iwantaspeaker.com Wed, 20 Feb 2013 22:37:00 +0000 http://battellemedia.com/?p=7029#comment-32723 [...] Jon Battelle’s great article on Facebook’s graph search got me thinking about its impact on brand given my big thing that [...] [...] Jon Battelle’s great article on Facebook’s graph search got me thinking about its impact on brand given my big thing that [...]

]]> By: johnbattelle http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php#comment-32610 johnbattelle Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:09:00 +0000 http://battellemedia.com/?p=7029#comment-32610 Good question, and one that graph search will either spin up demand for, or fade…and I know Facebook wants this to work, so expect they will put gaph search in front of you quite a bit, encouraging you to use it and also to take actions that feed it. rather like Google has with Google+ Good question, and one that graph search will either spin up demand for, or fade…and I know Facebook wants this to work, so expect they will put gaph search in front of you quite a bit, encouraging you to use it and also to take actions that feed it. rather like Google has with Google+

]]> By: Jaimie http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php#comment-32609 Jaimie Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:29:00 +0000 http://battellemedia.com/?p=7029#comment-32609 I like the idea of Graph Search to look up photos, people that I went to a school, etc. But I can't see myself using it to find a business or restaurant. I don't recommend or "like" businesses on Facebook, and I don't think many my friends do either, so how would using my friends as a search tool help me? I like the idea of Graph Search to look up photos, people that I went to a school, etc. But I can’t see myself using it to find a business or restaurant. I don’t recommend or “like” businesses on Facebook, and I don’t think many my friends do either, so how would using my friends as a search tool help me?

]]> By: Michael A. Robson http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php#comment-32586 Michael A. Robson Sat, 02 Feb 2013 10:31:00 +0000 http://battellemedia.com/?p=7029#comment-32586 Wrong question. Facebook is trying to 'eat' LinkedIn, dating sites, restaurant recommendation sites, etc. If your mom isn't even on Facebook, (mine sure isn't) it doesn't matter if she likes graph search. This is Facebook's best chance to take it to Google in the ad business. Wrong question. Facebook is trying to ‘eat’ LinkedIn, dating sites, restaurant recommendation sites, etc. If your mom isn’t even on Facebook, (mine sure isn’t) it doesn’t matter if she likes graph search. This is Facebook’s best chance to take it to Google in the ad business.

]]> By: johnbattelle http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php#comment-32395 johnbattelle Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:51:00 +0000 http://battellemedia.com/?p=7029#comment-32395 Excellent questions JG. Will they publish the core algos? Will they be responsible in how the work with the ecosystem? Excellent questions JG. Will they publish the core algos? Will they be responsible in how the work with the ecosystem?

]]> By: JG http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php#comment-32385 JG Fri, 18 Jan 2013 07:35:00 +0000 http://battellemedia.com/?p=7029#comment-32385 So perhaps graph search is a potential answer to what I was griping about in the comments on another of your posts, two weeks ago? That of web search being fundamentally uninteresting these days because it only gives common, expected, "zeitgeistian" answers. With graph search, I see much more potential for the questions and interactions to be exploratory and uncommon. To me, the issue hinges on whether Facebook plans to pagerank-itize the graph search algorithm. Are they going to filter, reduce, narrow, shallow answers to graph queries toward the expected, popular, common results? Or are they going to mix, expand, widen and deepen answers to graph queries toward the surprising, unexpected, serendipitous, comprehensive? Pagerank has the effect of reducing to the popular. Will graph search expand to the surprising? With graph search, that potential is there. But will they use it? Or will they, perhaps under pressure from advertising business models, fall back on the reductive pagerank-like approach? That's the big question I'll be following. So perhaps graph search is a potential answer to what I was griping about in the comments on another of your posts, two weeks ago? That of web search being fundamentally uninteresting these days because it only gives common, expected, “zeitgeistian” answers.

With graph search, I see much more potential for the questions and interactions to be exploratory and uncommon.

To me, the issue hinges on whether Facebook plans to pagerank-itize the graph search algorithm. Are they going to filter, reduce, narrow, shallow answers to graph queries toward the expected, popular, common results? Or are they going to mix, expand, widen and deepen answers to graph queries toward the surprising, unexpected, serendipitous, comprehensive?

Pagerank has the effect of reducing to the popular. Will graph search expand to the surprising? With graph search, that potential is there. But will they use it? Or will they, perhaps under pressure from advertising business models, fall back on the reductive pagerank-like approach? That’s the big question I’ll be following.

]]> By: JG http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php#comment-32384 JG Fri, 18 Jan 2013 07:20:00 +0000 http://battellemedia.com/?p=7029#comment-32384 <i>"When Google rolls out new search features, it's often in answer to behavior users are already exhibiting."</i> Which is true, but unfortunate. Because it limits Google to, well, behaviors that users are already exhibiting. Which behaviors are defined and constrained by the tools that they currently have. Which means that you'll never see a behavior, even if there is a user information need, if there is currently no way for the user to express that behavior. Classic catch-22. I have no idea if this Facebook graph search will catch on or not. But hey, good on them for trying. For not letting themselves be caught in the "existing behavior" trap. “When Google rolls out new search features, it’s often in answer to behavior users are already exhibiting.”

Which is true, but unfortunate. Because it limits Google to, well, behaviors that users are already exhibiting. Which behaviors are defined and constrained by the tools that they currently have. Which means that you’ll never see a behavior, even if there is a user information need, if there is currently no way for the user to express that behavior. Classic catch-22.

I have no idea if this Facebook graph search will catch on or not. But hey, good on them for trying. For not letting themselves be caught in the “existing behavior” trap.

]]> By: SellingSocial FL http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php#comment-32380 SellingSocial FL Fri, 18 Jan 2013 02:43:00 +0000 http://battellemedia.com/?p=7029#comment-32380 Facebook Adwords 2013... "You want to end the party @ 11?" Facebook Adwords 2013…
“You want to end the party @ 11?”

]]> By: Graph Search augurs Age of Enlightenment for Facebook | Tech TV http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php#comment-32375 Graph Search augurs Age of Enlightenment for Facebook | Tech TV Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:10:48 +0000 http://battellemedia.com/?p=7029#comment-32375 [...] Searchblogs’ John Battelle speculated that Graph Search is essential to recharging user engagement on Facebook. “If people do not constantly feed Facebook with engagement, its value attenuates over time. As the service slows in overall growth, engagement with its current base becomes critical. New connections are the lifeblood of a service like Facebook. Without a steady stream of meaningful Likes, Friend Requests, declared Interests, and such, the platform would wither,” Battelle wrote. “Put another way, Facebook needed a service that layered a fresh blanket of value over its core topography. Graph Search is it.” [...] [...] Searchblogs’ John Battelle speculated that Graph Search is essential to recharging user engagement on Facebook. “If people do not constantly feed Facebook with engagement, its value attenuates over time. As the service slows in overall growth, engagement with its current base becomes critical. New connections are the lifeblood of a service like Facebook. Without a steady stream of meaningful Likes, Friend Requests, declared Interests, and such, the platform would wither,” Battelle wrote. “Put another way, Facebook needed a service that layered a fresh blanket of value over its core topography. Graph Search is it.” [...]

]]> By: Graph Search augurs Age of Enlightenment for Facebook | TopTech - Latest Tech News http://battellemedia.com/archives/2013/01/facebook-is-no-longer-flat.php#comment-32374 Graph Search augurs Age of Enlightenment for Facebook | TopTech - Latest Tech News Thu, 17 Jan 2013 18:48:13 +0000 http://battellemedia.com/?p=7029#comment-32374 [...] Searchblogs’ John Battelle speculated that Graph Search is essential to recharging user engagement on Facebook. “If people do not constantly feed Facebook with engagement, its value attenuates over time. As the service slows in overall growth, engagement with its current base becomes critical. New connections are the lifeblood of a service like Facebook. Without a steady stream of meaningful Likes, Friend Requests, declared Interests, and such, the platform would wither,” Battelle wrote. “Put another way, Facebook needed a service that layered a fresh blanket of value over its core topography. Graph Search is it.” [...] [...] Searchblogs’ John Battelle speculated that Graph Search is essential to recharging user engagement on Facebook. “If people do not constantly feed Facebook with engagement, its value attenuates over time. As the service slows in overall growth, engagement with its current base becomes critical. New connections are the lifeblood of a service like Facebook. Without a steady stream of meaningful Likes, Friend Requests, declared Interests, and such, the platform would wither,” Battelle wrote. “Put another way, Facebook needed a service that layered a fresh blanket of value over its core topography. Graph Search is it.” [...]

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