Giraffe Search

Oops, I mean "graph search."

Have you ever heard a stupider name for a product? It's the name Facebook announced for its new search function yesterday.

I know, social media weenies like to call your network of linked friends your "social graph." But who the hell knows that except geekazoid maniacs?

So giraffe search is supposed to make Facebook more money by competing with Google. Not sure I buy it.

Google is nice and clean. You buy a word and there you are, right at the top of the page. No muss, no fuss.

Giraffe search, if I understand it properly (which is highly unlikely) is not nearly so clean.

According to Business Insider, the idea behind giraffe search is to reinvigorate the "like" function on Facebook. I think the logic goes like this:

You search for pizza places in Oakland. Giraffe search scours your Facebook friends and finds pizza places in Oakland that they have "liked." The search results reflect the number of likes that pizza places in Oakland have compiled from your friends.

In order to show up as a search result, some of your friends first have to have "liked" something. So if you're a marketer there is no direct way to improve your chances of appearing in a search result. You have to somehow get more people to "like" you, in the hope that if they do you will show up in more giraffe search results.

It sounds a little too complicated and a little too indirect for my simple mind.

It may convince some gullible suckers to increase their spending with Facebook in order to up their "likes." But I have a feeling "likes" 15 minutes are about up.

In the meantime, we'll keep an eye on giraffe search for you.