Facebook’s ‘Graph Search’ suggests new privacy threat
MENLO PARK, Calif. — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new search feature that’s designed to entice people to spend more time on his company’s website and will put the world’s largest online social network more squarely in competition with Google and other rivals such as Yelp and LinkedIn.
Called “graph search,” the new service unveiled Tuesday lets users quickly sift through their social connections for information about people, interests, photos and places. It’ll help users who, for instance, want to scroll through all the photos their friends have taken in Paris or search for the favorite TV shows of all their friends who happen to be doctors.
Although Zuckerberg stressed that “graph search” is different from an all-purpose search engine, the expanded feature escalates an already fierce duel between Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. as they grapple for the attention of Web surfers and revenue from online advertisers.