Facebook starts testing Graph Search on mobile

Graph Search allows users to dive deeper into the information put out by their Facebook friends

It was in January of last year that Facebook introduced Graph Search, its search engine that allows users to mine the data put out by their friends. Now, a little over a year later, the feature is, finally, coming to mobile.

Given that Facebook has gone all in on mobile over the past 18 months or so, frankly I'm surprised it took this long to make its way to the platform.

The new feature was first noticed on Satuday by Mashable reporter Seth Fiegerman, who tweeted out this screenshot of the feature:

Just got Graph Search on the Facebook app pic.twitter.com/NPXhWUgKtK

— Seth Fiegerman (@sfiegerman) February 1, 2014

The new has since been confirmed to VatorNews. The company is "beginning a small test of the navigation for mobile Graph Search," a Facebook spokeperson told me.

Graph Search acts like a search engine for seeing content that has been shared on Facebook, rather than what's simply out on the Web. So, for example, you can search for "my friends in New York who like Jay-Z" and get that set of people, places, photos or other content that's been shared on Facebook.

A small test for new mobile features is pretty typical; these tests usually start small and will only be rolled out to a handful of users, at least at first. Also, many times with tests like these it is not clear that they will ever be rolled out to the majority of users, but I doubt that that is the case here. 

Bringing Graph Search to mobile is something that the company has, no doubt, been wanting to do for a while. Plus, it is completely in sync with Facebook's strategy of increasing its mobile ambitions.

Following the release of the company's earnings reports this past Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg got on a conference call and said that Facebook would be continuing its push on mobile in the upcoming year with more standalone apps, a la Messenger and Instagram.

“If 2012 was the year we turned out core product into a mobile product, then 2013 was the year we turned out business into mobile business. I expect 2014 will be the year where be begin to deliver new and engaging types of mobile experiences," he said.

Only a day later, Facebook already made good on that promise with the announcement of its new mobile newsreader app, called Paper.

I would expect many more announcements of standalone apps, and features, coming to mobile over the next 12 months.

It should also be noted that Graph Search also helps Facebook see what its users are most interested in, and what is trending.

It is obviously in Facebook's best interest to highlight popular content in an effort to keep its users engaged in the kinds of conversations they are interested in. The company recently released a trending topics feature for desktop, where users will see a list of topics that have recently spiked in popularity.

Facebook mobile

In last week's Q4 and full year earnings report mobile represented over 50% of all of Facebook' advertising revenue for the first time. This past quarter was also the first time that mobile advertising crossed $1 billion for the first time as well.

Advertising revenue was $2.34 billion for the quarter. It increased 76% from the same quarter the year before.  Mobile accounted for 53% of that revenue, up from approximately 23% of advertising revenue in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Even more impressive: the $1.25 in mobile advertising was nearly as large as the company's total ad revenue in the fourth quarter of 2012.

(Image source: https://www.digitaltrends.com)