Searching , Google Vs Facebook

After having watched Mark Zuckerberg’s two part interview on youtube, i was wondering what would, searching the same thing ( “seagate Goflex” )

on both the platforms (facebook and Google) would result in.

side by side, the search term on google , facebook , bing (apparently facebook has some tie-up with M$)

OK , some of my observations ( please do share your observations too ! ) :

1. Google is good with Factual data.

2. Facebook has an added advantage with it knowing what my friends , other facebook users’ and i like . And how many of the users’ like / dislike / have

commented on the topic i am searching.

For the factual data , its using Bing (M$ ‘s search engine).

3. Bing is a reasonable search engine, i have nothing to say about it .

THE MOST IMPORTANT OBSERVATION :

4. Though Facebook uses Bing for its search, the Bing results Facebook displays on its search page are significantly

different. I think Facebook does its own filtering on top of Bing results , to filter out results like following :

“

• FreeAgent® GoFlex™

  Complete all three stages and stand to win the FreeAgent® GoFlex™ Family and Full HD 42 inch LCD TV. Contest closes 28 June 2010. Play now! FreeAgent®GoFlex™. Meet the world …

  seagategoflex.com · Cached page

• seagate goflex : seagate goflex – Cheap, Discount and FREE Super …

  seagate goflex – Cheap, Discount and FREE Super Saver Shipping

  seagategoflex.blogspot.com · Cached page

“

The first of the above results from Bing, is quite relevant to my search string (“seagate Goflex”) its the official site of the product.

here both Facebook and Google missed it.

My motivation for the blog post is that , many search providers are coming in the market, each with their own way of looking

at the problem of search. All are trying to do their best. But none of them IMHO are actually showing me what “I WANT TO SEE”.

They (search engines) should understand what i am searching for (in this case a product) and give me most relevant information

first ( in this case, the price in and around where i live , the technical specs etc , they should ask some more questions to refine

their search results ) .

Both google and facebook have the means (personal data) to understand about me and should strive to give personalized

search results. With an option of “Factual Search” which is also very important.

Facebook’s positive point is that, it gives me very few searches with some degree of personalization (what my friends think about it) .

When i search for a text , i am not going to look through millions of pages that google shows me but only a few say about 10 to 20 most “relevant” results.

Both Google and Facebook should learn from each other. And M$ should focus on the onething it has managed to do fairly good , make an operating system (Humor intended).

It would be fun to see what future of search has in store for us !

Until next time !

LIVE LONG & PROSPER.

Kunal Ghosh