Facebook unveiled their new search tool yesterday, a feature called “graph search”.  But what the heck is it?  Remember back in your school days when your teacher said anything you did would be on your permanent record?  Well, graph search may very well be your social network.

The new feature will give users the ability to sift through the vast amount of information available on the site, including photos, checkins and places to filter and find friends.  For example, want to know which one of your friends “likes” a brand?  Want to see only friends that live in your area or went to your college?  Well now Facebook graph search will tell you.

Graph Search and the Impact on the Social Media Industry

To be sure, this isn’t exactly the secret reporters and the social media community were looking for on Tuesday.  Many hoped for a Facebook phone or perhaps new mobile apps. This new feature basically gives users the ability to categorize and view connections in an easier, more accessible format.  The question you are invariably asking right now is “So what?”

Facebook’s graph search is a response to recent changes at Google.  Have you noticed that when you’re logged into Google these days you often see posts and pictures from friends before the normal search results?  That’s because everyone is in a fight to incorporate social search features in a hope to get you to stay on the site (and thus see ads) longer.  The biggest potential losers in this situation are sides like Yelp and Foursquare, where people often search for user reviews and feedback on services or consumer retail businesses.  Instead of reading the review of an unknown yelper, you’ll be able to see how many of your friends and specifically which friends like a coffee shop or restaurant, very powerful information if you are a consumer based business.