Facebook Finally Goes After Google With A New Search Product

Getty Images / Justin Sullivan

Facebook just announced a new product called Graph Search.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who showed off the product, insisted that it is not Google-like Web search.

But make no mistake, this is Facebook boldest attempt yet to go after Google's search business.

It's not a clone of Google search; it's an alternative to it.

Instead of organizing the Internent based on how Web pages are linked to each other, Graph Search organizes Internet content based on how it has been "Liked," labeled, and grouped on Facebook.

It is, like Web search, a way for a user to navigate the Internet (and mobile apps) through search queries.

These are some example search queries Zuckerberg gave:

• "Android apps my friends like."

• "People who live near Palo Alto who like Game of Thrones."

• "Friends who like Star Wars and Harry Potter."

• "People who have been product managers and who have been founders"

• "Who are my friends who live in San Francisco?"

• "Photos of my friends taken in Paris, France"

• "Friends of current employees is a good place to start for recruiting."

• "Friends of friends who are single men in San Francisco."

Some of those queries are commercial in nature. And that means that advertisers will want to put ads next to the results, just like they do in Google.