by Facebook announced its new Graph Search system on Tuesday morning, adding an entirely new way to seek out content and people on the social network. While the service is starting out as a very limited beta, Graph Search does look like an interesting, perhaps more personal alternative to Google searches.
“Facebook’s mission is to make the world more open and connected,” reads the company’s news release. “The main way we do this is by giving people the tools to map out their relationships with the people and things they care about. We call this map the graph. It’s big and constantly expanding with new people, content and connections. There are already more than a billion people, more than 240 billion photos, and more than a trillion connections.”
Essentially, Graph Search will modify the old search bar already atop your Facebook page, using a new algorithm to hunt down content from within your network to answer questions. You might ask, “Which of my friends in this town have a good plumber?” Graph Search will seek out related posts from your local pals, to see if they’ve liked a plumbing service, for example.
