Facebook Looks to Reinvigorate Their Search Tool

          Since Facebook's launching in 2004, founder Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear that one of his main goals is to keep his users on Facebook for as long as possible. To do this, Facebook would have to serve multiple functions in terms of information, and it has. People get their information about their social circles on there, and they have begun to get information about world events through their news-feed. The company reported this past Thursday that it had indexed over two trillion posts, in an attempt to allow users to monitor discussions of events as they occur. As Facebook looks to reinvigorate their search tool, they will need brand their company as not only a social network, but also a search engine. It has long been a search for people and places, but people have shifted away from this notion in recent years. About 1.5 billion searches are made a day on Facebook, compared to about 3.3 in 2012. This is obviously a huge blow to the brand, as they fail to compete for Google in the information industry. To keep users on longer, the company has to find a way for customers to have access to world events, as well as giving them a review channel for both business, products, and places. When users tap into Facebook's plethora of information, they are looking for reputations. Reputations of businesses, of people, schools, musicians, movie stars, etc.
        When people think of Google, they think search. Google has created this dominance of the internet with consistency and efficient pathways towards relevant information. Their reputation for treating employees well, in addition to leading the wave of new technology in Silicon Valley, has led to people's trust and reliance on the company. Facebook has a similar stronghold, but on a different market. Yes, Twitter has dipped into Facebook's business, but Facebook still remains the giant of social networking and has propelled the industry toward more information-driven pursuits. Companies want to pay Facebook for advertisements, but also for their information. Collecting information on billions of users allows Facebook to sell this data to large companies who can better understand people, and break them down by demographics and psycho-graphics. If Facebook wishes to become a dominate search engine as well, they will need to provide information that Google doesn't offer, or at the very least make the information more accessible  than its rival.

            Obviously, this graph depicts that Facebook's search queries are indeed on the decline. This is something that is vital to not Facebook's expansion, but it's maintenance as the dominating social network. When people aren't searching, they likely aren't online as long as thus there is less information for companies to snatch up. When there is both less information and less uers available, it is the domino effect of people not being able to reach their friends and/or find out what's new with them because people are no longer publishing their information on the network. Zuckerberg has forecasted this, and it may not be time to hit the panic button yet, but that time may be near.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-takes-aim-at-search-again-1445552264