Many people may already be aware of Facebook's recent redesign and have probably used the new-look profile. But how many know that it's the social network's stronger focus on search that drives the progression the design?
Indeed, Facebook has seen a huge growth in search market share from December 2009 to January 2010, according to research firm comScore.
According to recent statistics, although Google retains nearly two-thirds of the U.S. search market, it did drop a fraction from 65.7% in Dec 2009. At the same time, Facebook saw an increase of 13% in the number of searches in January. So although Facebook isn't exactly taking over search just yet, you can see why Google is taking note and has launched Google Buzz, its own social network.
Yahoo and Bing and other search engines make up the rest of the search market. The overall importance of search is increasing with the number of searches up to 15 billion during January, and with its new design, Facebook is looking to grow its share. Key improvements to the profile include:
- Photos are bigger and easier to see
- Email and messaging is made more accessible
- Notifications are simple to navigate
- Search is more prominent on the page
According to Facebook, 3.5 billion bits of content are added to the network each day. Individual relationships within the network govern access to much of that content and search plays a key role in turning up content that is relevant to each individual user.
The message to companies and brands seeking to attract people to their own websites is clear; search is more important than ever before.
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