Shortly after hitting the 500 million user mark last week, Facebook announced a new change of direction which will see the social media giant make its first move into the search market.
The new feature – called Questions – will see users able to ask for answers, opinions and advice from a community of fellow users.
Despite similar facilities being available via Twitter, Ask.com and Yahoo Answers, UK SEO experts QueryClick believe Questions still adds a new dimension to search as a company spokesperson explains:
“Facebook hasn’t broken new ground by providing a service where users can ask a community of people for answers. What it has done, however, is created an environment where those asking questions have access to 500 million potential answers.
“The enduring popularity of Facebook will undoubtedly see a large number of people take part in Questions which will deplete the amount of traffic and number of page views currently racked up by similar sites such as Yahoo Answers.”
Coinciding with the relaunch of Ask.com, Facebook Questions marks a noticeable turning point in the history of search with increasing emphasis on answers from humans rather than computers.
Although Facebook Questions has not be highlighted as a threat to current industry leader and pioneer, Google, SEO web design experts QueryClick still believe that internet users should expect a shift in the way we approach online search:
“When the internet first began growing in popularity about 15 years ago, people were happy to scour the web looking for answers to their questions and quickly began favouring search engines over people when it came to solving queries quickly.
“Nowadays however, the demand for knowledge sometimes exceeds what’s available online meaning the content that answers people’s questions has yet to be created.
“With time sensitivity an issue, it’s clear to see why so many people are resorting back to asking the community for the most up-to-date, direct answer to their question rather than spending time trawling through search results pages.”
Kaynak : 