Facebook Search is starting to climb the ladder when it comes to search functionality efficiency and popularity. As of this date, Facebook takes in about 1.5 billion unique searches. Its systems then search through 2 trillion posts to retrieve results. It’s not quite as massive as the 3.5 billion searches that Google pulls in daily, but it’s still impressive.
The launch of Search FYI and an update of Facebook Search as a whole aims to bring much more of the Internet’s content to Facebook’s users, even if the majority of its indexed content will remain within its own posting ecosystem.
Let’s go through the 10 main things you should be aware of about Facebook Search FYI.
Available Across Platforms
The new Facebook search functions can be accessed on more than just your desktop or laptop. In fact, you can access these functionalities on your iPhones and Androids, so long as you have the most recent version of the operating system on each type of device.
The FYI Tag
It’s very easy to keep abreast of new updates to the Facebook search functionality so long as you check the “Search FYI” tag using the feature itself. It’s with this tag that Facebook will alert its users for improvements and for downtime as they test Search for even better performance.
Historical Search Returns
Search cannot only help you with day-to-day Facebooking, but it can also resurface your old content and posts. Even stuff that you posted many years ago can be retrieved for a good old-fashioned nostalgia trip. Still, you might want to take care of anything that might be embarrassing, particular in this day and age of social media shaming.
Talking Tracking
Facebook Search can do more than just show you popular posts related to whatever you recently searched; they can also show you how many people are talking about a particular link. It’s a great way to know what topics are really blowing up in the Facebook sphere if you want to get engaged in the conversation of the day or week.
Public Connections
Furthermore, you’ll be able to find public posts that are connected to a link that you search for. Think of it as an expansion of the web to create each time you use the Search functionality. It’s an excellent way to jump into new posts and see what other people are talking about in relation to your unique search.
Pull-Down Refresh
Just like with Twitter, you’ll be able to pull down on the mobile screen of Facebook Search to refresh the results and content. It’s a great ease-of-use decision that many will find helpful intuitively.
200 Factors and Counting
Whenever you enter a search into this new feature, Facebook automatically compares approximately 200 separate aspects or factors in order to find you appropriate search results. In a nutshell, they don’t just rely on the search content itself but also take your personal profile into account.
4 Sorting Methods
Like with Harry Potter’s houses, Facebook sorts its different search results into four broad categories: Latest, Top, Photos, and People. These categories are a great way to quickly narrow down your search results and find the content you are seeking without having to sift through lots of junk beforehand.
Public and Friend Posts are Combined
Whenever you use Facebook Search, it’ll combine the public posts and the posts of your friends that are related to your search result. Not only does this ensure that you get a broader sampling of the conversation around the topic you searched, but it also helps to widen the topics of conversation to broader audiences. Socially isolating bubbles will be a little easier to pop, now.
Personalized, Rapid Search Suggestions
Above all, Facebook Search has been redesigned to provide you with timely and much more personalized search suggestions. No longer will these take up space on your screen and recommend nonsensical search suggestions that aren’t even vaguely related to your topic. While the exact method by which Facebook curates their search suggestions is unknown, it’s probably something similar to Google and their Autosuggest code.
All in all, time will tell whether the new and improved Facebook Search manages to make a splash in the search functionality ocean. Let us know if you’ve tried it out since the update!
