Facebook Releases New Search Tools For News Organizations
Facebook is set to launch a couple of new search tools aimed at helping these organizations to figure out what Facebook users are talking about. The search tools will undoubtedly be used by marketers as well looking for topics they can target to sell products and services. The tools are focused on helping people gain insight into conversations going on in real time centered on things such as television shows, news topics, and sporting events.
One of the tools will reportedly allow its users to use keywords to search for Facebook posts on those topics that users or companies have listed as public. The second tool may bother some privacy advocates because it will allow marketers and news organizations to run searches of private Facebook posts. However, the tool that searches private Facebook posts only returns anonymous demographic data such as geographical data, gender, and age.
These two tools are Facebook's attempt to keep up with twitter and get the same sort of insights that the twitter trending topics feature offers. These changes are the latest that Facebook has instituted in an attempt to bring some twitter-like services to its social network. This summer Facebook users gained the ability to search posts using hash tags to find content on specific topics.
Facebook is also currently testing a trending topics section on its main newsfeed page that will show users the most popular subjects the people are talking about on Facebook at any given time. Facebook also recently rolled out the ability for website owners to embed public posts including video on webpages. Facebook is reportedly limiting the use of these two new tools to specific news organizations at this time including Buzzfeed, CNN, NBC News, Sky Television and Slate. A company called Mass Relevance will also have access to these tools. The company helps other companies analyze and use social media to improve interaction with customers.
SOURCE: NYT