People like dramatic news. Have you noticed that every time something new comes along there will always be "analysts" out there that would be quick to kill something else that we all know and use regularly?
We heard it when Facebook and Twitter came along, claiming it is the end of email! Seriously?
We heard it when the iPad came out, claiming it was the end of the desktop computer (heck, even Apple don't seem to think so).
And now, we hear it with the new Facebook Graph Search that was officially announced just two weeks ago (January 15th 2013) and is already threatening to wipe Google off the face of the planet.
Truth is, when you look back at history, in most cases people adapt and expand their habits. Indeed there were many cases where old products ceased to exist because there was something new out there and fundamentally better (take Kodak for instance vs. smartphones digital cameras) but in most cases people simply use the best of everything.
So, Facebook Graph Search - a Google Killer? Is it really fundamentally better? Is it offering a superior way to find what you're looking for over Google?
Reality Check
Apparently the Graph Search isn’t quite the challenge that would cause Google's executives to lose sleep over, not yet anyway. As it appears, the Facebook Graph Search is merely a more comprehensive site search.
It will help users and businesses discover information about their friends or fans, including common musical tastes, games, travel buddies and brands. This information has always been present, and Facebook is simply making finding those common threads easier.
As marketers, this should make targeting fans and understanding your Facebook audience easier than ever, keeping your content marketing strategies on track. Graph Search is still in beta and will be rolling out to all users soon.
It will be interesting though to see how well the Facebook Graph Search is integrated into Bing personalized search results given Microsoft's stake in Facebook. This may pose a much more serious challenge to Google.
