With the announcement of Facebook’s Graph Search, much speculation abounds as to whether this new search tool will position the social network to go head-to-head with the likes of Google and Yelp.
Forrester’s take? Not likely.
In a new blog post, Forrester principal analyst Nate Elliott writes: “Will this feature go head-to-head with Google? I seriously doubt it; the two indexes contain entirely different kinds of information. Will it compete with Yelp or TripAdvisor? Again, unlikely; when was the last time you posted a full-paragraph review and a star rating of a restaurant or hotel on Facebook?”
So on the whole, while this announcement is certainly important for Facebook, Elliott notes that ultimately it’s not a game-changer.
“The big news isn’t that Facebook has fixed its search tool; the big news is that it didn’t do this long ago.”