March 19, 2010 by Matt Thomas
Still high from their recent coup of beating Google in traffic this week, Facebook have made a surprise announcement that actually has something to do with ‘search’. In yet another move to keep up with Google they have announced that they will be enhancing the query suggestion feature on the site.
I am sure all Facebook users are familiar with the blue search bar that sits at the top of the page, it has recently been made bigger and more prominent probably in preparation for this change. Well currently when you type anything into that box it will give you suggestions of friends or fan pages that you may be looking for, but only ones that are associated to the user.
The update will see it become more like the Google style of search suggestion as it will include suggestions for fan pages or groups that the user may not already be connected with.
This is a typically smart move by the people at Facebook as it will give them greater scope for advertising deals. Major brands will most likely approach them and pay to be a ‘sponsored suggestion’ in the search bar, the earning potential from it could be potentially huge.
Facebook will be making the feature live from this week, but seen as they have 400 million users to update do not worry if yours has not updated yet, it will soon enough.
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