Zuckerberg On Facebook Search Engine: "At some point we'll do it"

[engine]

Mark Zuckerberg is on stage at Disrupt talking about the potential for Facebook to get serious about creating a search engine, saying “we’re basically doing 1 billion queries a day and we’re not even trying.” He followed up noting “Facebook is pretty uniquely positioned to answer the questions people have. At some point we’ll do it. We have a team working on it.”

He explained that users really do look to the social network to answer questions, such as where to eat sushi. This is what people want out of search, not a pile of results. “Search engines are really evolving to give you a set of answers, ‘I have a specific question, answer this question for me.’”Zuckerberg On Facebook Search Engine: "At some point we'll do it" [techcrunch.com]

[backdraft7]

They NEED to do it, and do it SOON! Somebody needs to put up competition to Google, who has made a mess of a once decent search product and is killing small businesses in droves.

[SevenCubed]

Good grief. In anticipation of a thread like this popping up this morning I went looking for a (relatively) impartial perspective of the interview from sources other than facebook PR or tech related websites.

I found a sensible story at [thestreet.com...] -- In fact the author of that story does have a long position in facebook shares (mandatory disclosure for the website's reporters) yet he doesn't look at facebook's potential for search in a favourable manner, nor do other analysts he quoted.

Yet again though the blind on the street just don't really have a clue about 2 very basic forces that are going to impede facebook's ability to generate revenue -- User Intention and Ad Blindness. It doesn't matter if the whole world ends up on facebook, those 2 factors will not change. I took a peek and sure enough facebook's shares are on the rise today based purely on the fluff generated by this interview.

But for argument's sake lets suppose they do get into search -- will it only be accessible to those logged in behind the wall? That limits potential scope doesn't it?

I ask myself why the emphasis would have been placed on search which is more of a long-term prospect rather than telling people what they are doing in mobile, which from my perspective offers more short term potential. The impression I get is that investors at arm's length see search as a cash cow because of google's success in revenue as a result of search. So I think they chose this topic to focus on hoping that it would subtly imply "there is cash on the way" to end the share price hemorrhage -- so far "the morning after the night before" appears to have been effective based on climbing share price. Such is le peak and la vallee ride of short term speculation influenced by PR spinning.

By the way the "good grief" reference isn't to engine's OP but to the PR spinning by facebook.

[Angonasec]

Spot the dilemma...

Will Fb's SE include it's own walled-garden results in the serp?

[Leosghost]

So Mark may have a bridge to sell at some point in the future..that'll divert attention from the IPO scam..he hopes ..meh

[brotherhood of LAN]

Yet again though the blind on the street just don't really have a clue about 2 very basic forces that are going to impede facebook's ability to generate revenue -- User Intention and Ad Blindness. It doesn't matter if the whole world ends up on facebook, those 2 factors will not change. I took a peek and sure enough facebook's shares are on the rise today based purely on the fluff generated by this interview.

I don't think it's as much as what people intend to do on facebook and how they are not in 'buy-mode'.... but what they do afterwards and how they get there.

1. Log into Facebook
2. Waste time
3. Enough time wasted... possibly search for something?

[mhansen]

But for argument's sake lets suppose they do get into search -- will it only be accessible to those logged in behind the wall? That limits potential scope doesn't it?

Every day, Google takes steps to get people signed into the "Services" to perform searches, allow customization, see r-rated content, etc.

What makes anyone thing Facebook could not have a search box on their main login page, just like Google does?

"Search, or Login to See Personalized Results"

Or, they could just build up the relationship with Bing and expand on something they already have.

MH

[graeme_p]

@mhansen, I use Google as my main search engine and never sign in. I see nothing I want missing.

I suspect a Facebook search engine will be about as successful as Google's social networks have been.

We do need an alternative to Google, but the two leading potential alternatives (FB and MS) seem to be much worse people than Google to exercise influence on the market.

[moTi]

mobile, which from my perspective offers more short term potential.

no viable mobile advertising business has evolved. if the argument is, that users are not in buying mood on the facebook website platform, then take a look at mobile. there is no market for advertising, users aren't buying anything, the performance of mobile ads is naturally crappy.
so yeah, a search engine. facebook has loads of user data. combined with search.. i find it astonishing, that they wait so long. do they have no people for search engines there? or no more stupid money to burn?

[Panthro]

I don't think it's as much as what people intend to do on facebook and how they are not in 'buy-mode'.... but what they do afterwards and how they get there.

1. Log into Facebook
2. Waste time
3. Enough time wasted... possibly search for something?

Guess this is why they started displaying those ads on logout.

[BaseballGuy]

Search engines are really evolving to give you a set of answers

Unless Google and Facebook have hired a bunch of researchers to research every single question under the sun....correct if I'm wrong here....but aren't webmasters (read: us) the guys responsible for all of the content on the internet?

What do they plan on doing? Scraping our websites, stealing our content and present it as their own?

Seems like Zuckerburg really isn't tied into reality too much either.

[londrum]

Will Fb's SE include it's own walled-garden results in the serp?

i think that will appeal to a lot of people. even if they allowed individual users to opt out, they could still include bazillions of business, groups and fan-type pages. why would they want to opt out? that is a lot of content that people could only access via facebook

[chicagohh]

If you haven't already been doing it... it's time to develop all those extra FB accounts. By the time the FB search is ready you should be also.

[xcoder]

They NEED to do it, and do it SOON! Somebody needs to put up competition to Google, who has made a mess of a once decent search product and is killing small businesses in droves.

Wanted to echo that...

[zeus]

hmm I would not get my hopes up for a SE from Facebook there business style is not much different then google.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

I have to disagree Zeus, I googled this news and the top 14 results were all from the same site. Yes, Facebook, do it soon!

[Leosghost]

What we each get varies ..

from here, France, using a G.com

zuckerberg disrupt..no quotes..

13 results on page 1
..3 from TC..
at #1,#4,#5

( plus one from their twitter account at #8 )
the rest were all from 9 different sites..

[incrediBILL]

We have a team working on it.

Probably a couple of nerds with a copy of nutch and hadoop in a cube that you can hear giggling all day long while the guy in the cube next to them is scratching his head in disbelief that MySQL won't easily handle a few billion pages of data...

I've said before that they need to get the Bing team to knock this out and just embrace Bing as their search engine so they can focus on Facebook itself.

[SevenCubed]

...in a cube that you can hear giggling all day long while the guy in the cube next to them is scratching his head in disbelief...

LOL...sounds like the struggle going on between my right and left brain hemispheres all day long. One wants to constantly study patterns and gets so easily distracted by unfamiliar intelligent designs on bugs or painted turtles (tries to correlate the trait with the cosmic trait that caused it) while the other side just wants to beat on the drum all day.

[brotherhood of LAN]

>they need to get the Bing team to knock this out and just embrace Bing as their search engine so they can focus on Facebook itself.

Agreed. It's going to take a bunch of people and a long, long time to build anything comparable. Purely guessing, 18-24 months doesn't sound long enough at all... so it'd be a while away.

Putting a web search box somewhere prominent with an arrow pointing at it would take considerably less time, Yahoo's SE tie ups always made them good money.

[Leosghost]

Yahoo's SE tie ups always made them good money.

Then along came G..who used their deal with Y to blast off into search domination..leaving Yahoo to.. "who"?

[brotherhood of LAN]

true, but that was about 8 years later on.

[J_RaD]

isn't facebooks SE bing? this has been common knowledge for some time? FB will dump you to bing for lots of things.

we’re basically doing 1 billion queries a day and we’re not even trying.

and if im correct someone else besides FB is able to see this data to build a better mouse trap?

[incrediBILL]

isn't facebooks SE bing?

Yes, BING is FB's SE but the integration is superficial at best.

Bing could do a lot more to make it really useful within the FB domain, or simply limiting the results to FB content and then integrate FB advertisers. I'm sure the ad money is why FB is still looking at DIY to get 100% of the green.

Greed often outweighs logic and impedes real progress.

[swapnil]

Good plan to compete google but hardly it will affect because till FB launches its own SE google will grow on more powerful and even strong so lets hope the idea works and can produce miraculous result for Mr.Mark.

[r4bet]

Bing works well with FB , why should FB do same with bing !? (i think this news is just to fix stock market as you saw 8% growing today)

[zeus]

I could imagine that facebook would even strip more content from sites then google, to keep users on facebook.

[incrediBILL]

What FB could do, that they can't quite yet, is actually weight results based on content owned by or liked by each member, their friends, etc. and if really smart could integrate four square logins, etc. to make results so personal and so relevant it could literally freak people out.

We know it's coming from Google +, just a matter of time, as Google has already been toying with really personalize results. So FB better hurry because being able to provide such an intimate search experience will be, regardless of all the privacy whining, the big game changer for whoever can deliver it first. Mobile is going to be a big key to that personal search success which Google already has a large stake but Faceboook doesn't. Another reason they need to partner with Bing or perhaps Apple, maybe both.

[r4bet]

problem is personalizing result is not enough , you need regular results first like google. so facebook if really want get some percent of search engines markets.. have to be a search engine! because most of our searches is keywords no searching what is best chines restaurant my friend going

[helleborine]

An image search for "I HATE FACEBOOK" yields about 72,000 results for me.

How long until FB myspaces?

Facebook is aggressive, intrusive, in your face, and not particularly useful. For many people it is an unwelcome chore, for others, that website where you play Farmville (or faddish equivalent).

I'm not sure how welcome a more powerful Facebook would be to the general public.