Facebook大战谷歌：搜索之争一触即发

    谷歌（Google）在2007年发布免费文字处理和制表软件时，并没有打算立刻推翻微软（Microsoft）的Office套件。毕竟，谷歌的软件比起Word和Excel来说存在不足——现在仍是如此。不过它们的发布揭开了蚕食微软核心专营这场持久战的序幕。2012财年，包括Office在内的微软商业部门收入达240亿美元。不过，如果谷歌没有提供更便宜的选择、而且被数以百万的公司使用的话，这个数额无疑还会更高。

    但是，Facebook也在谷歌的剧本中抢戏。这家社交网站巨头周二发布了一项搜索服务，目的并不是要将谷歌迅速拉下网页搜索的王座。实际上，这只是一场持久战的开始，目的在于在网络中最有力和最盈利的业务上侵蚀谷歌的垄断。如果成功，Facebook所谓的“图谱搜索（Graph Search）”就能为用户提供谷歌之外的选择，它对许多搜索词条也许更加实用。在恰当的时机，它还可能变成Facebook的一项大型业务。

    Facebook的联合创始人兼CEO马克•扎克伯格在加州门洛帕克的公司总部召开的一场座无虚席的新闻发布会上称：“图谱搜索并不是网页搜索。”

    的确，Facebook只搜索在自家网页上发生的事情。目前为止，它只专注于四类搜索：人、照片、爱好和地点。不过Facebook这项新服务能够查询的内容具有创新性，也很有用。

    用户可以“寻找喜爱足球的人”或“寻找在你家乡喜爱足球的人”，还可以找到他们曾喜欢过的所有图片或他们好友在巴黎拍的所有照片。他们可以在旧金山找到当地好友喜欢的餐馆，或是那些印度好友喜欢的餐馆——假如他们想要尝点辛辣食物的话。而这些，谷歌是办不到的。

    这项服务前途无量——顺带提一句，它的缔造者是两位前谷歌工程师带领的50人团队。首先，它可以扩大Facebook的功能，把它从一项互动工具扩展为一项能够帮用户发现新信息的工具。而谷歌不仅希望帮助人们寻找其他网页信息，还希望帮助人们寻找餐馆、水管工和高清电视信息，对此它理应感到忧虑。（谷歌拒绝就此发表评论。）

    然而，图谱搜索仍然处在测试阶段，而且只面向Facebook网站10亿用户中的很小一部分开放。这种谨慎情有可原。公司的测试版本引人注目，但是测试用户同时也是Facebook的员工。这些Facebook的“超级用户”可能记录了他们去的每个地方，“赞”了他们喜欢的每一本书、每一首歌、每个品牌。

    When Google unveiled free word processing and spreadsheet apps back in 2007, the company wasn't trying to immediately topple Microsoft's Office suite. After all, Google's apps were―and still are―inferior to powerful programs like Word and Excel. But their launch was the beginning of a long-term campaign to nibble away at one of Microsoft's core franchises. In fiscal 2012 Microsoft's business division, which includes Office, brought in $24 billion. But there is little doubt that it would be even larger had Google not offered a cheaper alternative now used by millions of businesses.

    Facebook (FB) is taking a page from Google's (GOOG) playbook. The social networking giant on Tuesday unveiled a search service. It is not aimed at toppling Google from its perch as the king of Web search any time soon. Instead, it is the opening round in a long-term campaign to erode Google's monopoly over the most powerful and profitable business on the Internet. If successful, Facebook's so-called "graph search" will offer users an alternative to Google that may work better for many types of queries. In due time, it could turn into a tidy business for Facebook.

    "Graph search is not Web search," Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's co-founder and chief executive, said during a packed press conference at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.

    Indeed, Facebook only searches for things that have happened on its sprawling site. For now, it concentrates on four types of searches: people, photos, interests and places. But the types of queries possible with Facebook's new service are innovative and useful.

    Users can "find friends who like soccer" or "find friends who like soccer in your hometown." Users can find all the photos they've liked or all the photos their friends have taken in Paris. They can find restaurants in San Francisco liked by friends who are locals, or by friends who are Indian―say if they're in the mood for spicy food. Users can't do that on Google.

    The promise of this kind of service—which, by the way, was built by a team of 50 engineers led by two ex-Googlers—is enormous. For starters, it could broaden the utility of Facebook, turning it from a tool of interaction into one that helps users discover new things. And Google, which is trying to be the place where people find not only other Web pages, but also restaurants or plumbers or HD televisions, should be worried. (Google declined to comment.)

    Yet Facebook's caution―graph search is still in beta or test mode, and is only being rolled out to a very small fraction of the site's more than 1 billion users―is warranted. The company's demo was dazzling, but the queries were for users who were also Facebook employees. These are Facebook "super-users" who likely check in every place they go, and click the Like button on every book, song or brand they, well, like.