You've always been able to search on Facebook, but the interface was clunky and it was always really hard to find what you were looking for.
Now Facebook is rolling out Graph Search, a much more robust search tool that lets you search just about anything friends have shared with you on Facebook.
So the first thing to do, if you haven't already, is sign up for Graph Search Beta which you can do by heading over
to Facebook.com/about/graphsearch and scroll down to the bottom and hit sign up.
Once you get Graph Search, Facebook will alert you, and your navigation bar will morph into something that looks like this, so the search bar is on the left and all of your friend requests, messages, and notifications are on the right.
Now you can use Graph Search to search the web, and if you search for something like oh, how to find lost iPhone, it'll redirect you to a Bing search within
Facebook, but most of the time you'll use Graph Search to search within Facebook content.
So let me show you a few examples.
So I can search for something like photos I liked in 2013, and all the photos that I liked in 2013 will show up, but I can also expand that search, make it more specific by saying something like photos in 2013 I liked and commented on, and the results will be much more
specific.
So that's an example of how you can search within content that you or your friends have contributed, but you can also search public Facebook contents.
So for example I can search photos taken in San Francisco, California, and any photo that was shared publicly and shot in San Francisco will show up.
Now if you click on the module on the right, you can further refine that search by defining photos of people, the date the photo was taken, and so on.
Another fun way to use
Graph Search is to get recommendations.
So I can search for something like books read by CEOs, people who are CEOs, and a list of books read by people who are CEOs will show up in the results.
I can also do something like friends who like gluten-free restaurants.
The possibilities are endless and this might sound crazy, but you might start using Graph Search to find a date.
So watch out eHarmony because
check this out.
I can do something like men who live in San Francisco and like basketball and are over the age of 25.
Okay.
So it looks like this guy is in a relationship, so let's further refine the search and say single men who live in San Francisco and like basketball and are over the age of 25.
So as you get started with Graph Search, have fun with it.
Find
a date or maybe discover a new restaurant in town.
It might change the way you use Facebook.
Oh and before you ask, don't worry about your privacy settings; they haven't changed.
All Graph Search does is surface the data you and your friends have already contributed.
With that being said though, you might wanna go ahead and check your privacy settings again.
Go ahead and visit this link for my blog on that topic.
For CNET.com, I'm Sharon Vaknin.
