“Looking for”…Information Seeking through Facebook
I see facebook just rolled out this new feature to me; now when I add a status update, I can indicate “looking for” with a pretty extensive list of options (presumably populated from common ‘other’ insertions).
Facebook’s new ‘looking for’ feature; integrating search and social q&a
The integration of Bing (which I talk about here) is a related angle on this, but the new feature builds in a more formal structure, giving facebook access to labelled search data and personalised recommendations (alongside all the other data it holds around locations and social-network graph). It would also facilitate a further integration of search results into facebook – facebook could start posting comments on your “looking for” updates. In fact, this morning I started a feedback survey on facebook:
#FacebookStudy:”How much do you agree with this statement?: ‘This post feels like an advert'” …presumably to make ads less ‘adverty’ #sigh
— Simon Knight (@sjgknight) July 8, 2014
And there is very obvious application of “looking for” updates for advertising, but only if they can do it without being icky (and without making it adverty) – could we imagine a model where companies pay to have individual’s posts “upgraded” if they (coincidentally) happen to be about that company. It’s “authentic”, avoids looking adverty, makes use of facebook up/downrating content……
Interestingly, I can’t see any blog or product info update to link to!
I really agree with the “avoids looking adverty” point you make Simon.
Most ads annoy users even if they do remember them and like the product (so yes I suppose advertisers will say this shows they’re working)
However, it would be far better to replace them with relevant somewhat authenticated reviews, which surfers are sometimes actually seeking out.
Right, so I guess another way for facebook to leverage this would be to show reviews (which also provides further incentive for companies to use the fb login on review websites). Thanks for the comment! 🙂