DEAR FACEBOOK: Stop Fooling Around, Jump Into Search, And Triple Your Stock

[rcjordan]

"Why does Facebook have such a huge opportunity in search?
Because 500 million people a month live on Facebook.
They don't visit Facebook.
They live there.
They start at Facebook, communicate through Facebook, and quickly return to Facebook every time they stray away.
So maybe it's time Facebook helped them to start searching at Facebook--and not just for things that are on Facebook. Facebook should help its users start searching for everything."


http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-search-2012-8

[dogboy]

totally agreed.

[littleman]

The conversion ratio for search would be more on par with bing/google, so they would get a huge boost in PPC spending.  Hopefully they would have the sense to separate out search from content.

[dogboy]

I would just go straight to ppc engine w filler results until they figure something better out. But what they have now is notably bad.

[Rooftop]

Aren't the rumours that they are testing this anyway? There was an  'accidental' picture of zuckerberg with a facebook search bar on this screen put out shortly before the IPO.

[Brad]

I can't see FB working with Google though on search as indicated in the article.  It would have to be Bing.  Still that would work if done right. 

Search would help them with the mobile question (ie. the future of social is mobile, but it is hard to display enough ads on a mobile app to make it pay compared to a full web page) and would allow for local search and the use of all that checkin data FB has about users.

[dogboy]

you know, scratch that.... forget search; go directly to products.  Compete with ebay and craigslist and allow people to sell and barter their old junk.  That way people would be more accountable for everything.

That would work and people would like it and FB could be right at the center of payment, with a seamless UE.

[nffc]

>Compete with ebay and craigslist

Ding, ding!

They could kill it with that. Stuff for sale near you, tailored for your interests. COD to bring the young un's in. Perfect, and I mean perfect, for their "we don't know how to earn from mobile" problem.

[Chunkford]

Yea, ecommerce is where they should be at. Imagine generating the viral buzz with direct purchases all within facebook.
People would never have to leave the comfort of the facebook walled garden then.

[grnidone]

I just realized something.  We should run the world.

[Chunkford]

It would be an interesting place for sure

[Chunkford]

Interesting - https://www.facebook.com/about/gifts

[edo]

Bit more background:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2210050/Facebook-trials-letting-users-buy-real-birthday-gifts-friends.html

I wouldn't bet against them with their userbase...

[littleman]

>Compete with ebay and craigslist and allow people to sell and barter their old junk.

It's a good idea, but they'd have to work out how to isolate products from people's profiles.  Often folks want to have some anonymity when it comes to buying and selling history.  I guess that would be pretty easy to filter by giving users the option to make their buy/sell public, share w/ friends, or keep private.

[grnidone]

Funny thing.  When I saw facebook gifts, I thought "Hey...didn't dogboy already invent that with the beer thing?"