Imagine all your Facebook friends who have two heads, eat their young on Thursdays and are Martian. Compiling a list of those people is now easier than ever, thanks to Facebook’s Graph Search, which was announced on Tuesday. While only in a limited beta for now, Graph Search is an easier-than-ever-before way to find your friends and put them into lists. You can find all friends who play soccer and communicate with just them. Or maybe you want to find your friend Ben’s friend Kim, who lives in San Francisco but other than that you’re not sure. Facebook has put the power in your hands to search for people the way you want. Privacy is a big concern, but Facebook has said that privacy is of the utmost importance to the company, and will only let people search for you by the information you’ve made available. What this will do for marketing, though, is a whole other realm. Hello, even more specific targeted ads!
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.