![]( "Facebook like searches")
If there is one subject
that I have been beating the drum about for the last 4 months it is the huge potential that the like button brings and the fact that it is the biggest threat to Google's dominance in online search. I've said recently that Google are worried and you don't have to be a genius to understand that their whole "Google Me" social network that they are assembling comes as a direct result of the threat Facebook poses. Well Facebook has in the last couple of days released the first steps of it's new search functionality that includes results based on what people have liked in the past. This new search functionality not only points to pages on Facebook but also directs you to third party sites and that is the key. Now it has to be said that Facebook search as a product is pretty poor as it is at the moment and I personally don't use it for much. I would expect them to improve it drastically and the most interesting part of all this is that the algorithm includes likes on third party sites which means Facebook has masterfully integrated itself in millions of sites around the world. Lots of sites already get a good bit of traffic from Facebook (We get 18% here) and I firmly believe that this will lead to even more traffic. Search has been broken for a while now and we are increasingly looking to personal recommendations and the interests of friends. I'm pretty sure developments like this have the Google team very worried and I'm pretty sure you will see things like LEO (Like Engine Optimization) and Like Farms popping up pretty soon as people try and game the Facebook search results (I'm only ever so slightly joking with this prediction). Early days but have to say I really do believe this is the start of a new type of search.
You can have a go with Facebook search yourself in the search box at the top of your profile. Check it out and you will see some interesting results starting to pop up!