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Facebook leaps ahead in race for better mobile search experiences

The race to merge social and search on mobile continues to heat up as Google, Facebook and a host of upstarts look to remake the experience of how smartphone users find information. 

The stakes are high, given that more Google searches are now conducted on mobile than on desktop in the United States, Japan and several other countries, with search proving to be one of the more successful ways to monetize on mobile. Looking to shore up its own mobile advertising business, Facebook is testing in-app search links while Google looks for a social connection by integrating tweets into search results on mobile. 

?This news is extremely important to mobile marketers because it means Facebook will (once again) increase the time users spend on its platform, hoping to reduce their reliance on Google by offering an easier way to better search and connect to the content they want,? said Cristina McConnell, associate manager of earned media at The Search Agency.

?This new feature can entice users to post more on Facebook, share more news/content, and in turn, give Facebook more structured data on what type of sites and content users as well as their friends like. Facebook could become our next go-to digital paper boy,? she said. 

Social arbiter
The move to merge social and search on mobile makes some sense.  

As social media increasingly becomes the arbiter of what is popular in a digitally dominated world, social?s role in search is likely to continue to grow, as search results are typically based on some combination of relevancy and popularity. 

With social and searching two of the most popular activities on mobile, merging them could create a streamlined and more meaningful way to access information on a small screen. 


This is already evident in the popularity of news on mobile, with users often sharing links for what they find interesting, a popular activity Facebook hopes to make easier for users while also making sure they do not leave the site. 

Facebook is reportedly enabling some app users on iOS to post links in a status update without having to go to Google to copy and paste a URL. A drop down menu appears enabling users to choose from among the most popular links. 

This follows the recent news that Facebook wants to host content from news publishers directly on its site rather than having users click through to the publisher?s site. 

?Facebook is gearing up to compete with Google as a search engine,? Ms. McConnell said. ?Facebook has indexed 1 trillion posts that have been shared on users? feeds, allowing the new in-app feature to suggest the most shared links, which could allow Facebook to steal some of Google?s coveted traffic.  

?This coupled with new advertising opportunities with news publishers could have Google shaking in their boots,? she said. 

Google embraces Twitter
Google is simultaneously looking to increase the social relevance of mobile searches. Following a deal with Twitter for broader access to posted tweets, Google has begun integrating tweets into search results on smartphones. This enables users to see recent tweets related to trending topics. 

For example, following yesterday?s news that popular television show American Idol will be ending, a Google search conducted on a smartphone enabled the searcher to swipe through a series of recent topics with reactions to the news. The tweets were posted as recently as 17 seconds earlier. 


The strategy is reportedly an experiment at this point. 

Search is the cornerstone of Google?s significant revenues and as search activity increasingly moves to mobile, the company cannot afford to be caught sleeping at the wheel. 

There are a number of startups that are also trying to crack the code on mobile search, but most of these are fairly limited in scope so far. 

Vurb is an app that provides a contextual search engine using cards, promising to let users find and share information by connecting them to the most relevant information and tools from apps and services. 

Quixey is a search engine for apps. 

Improving mobile search
?Of course, it is not entirely clear that search needs to be revamped on mobile. It is already a popular activity that most people are happy with. 
However, because mobile is such a new experience, the belief is that search on mobile can made to be even more relevant and helpful. 

?The reigning dichotomy of mobile is that mobile users want to enjoy their digital experience without being immediately bombarded with pop-up advertisements every second, however, no digital marketer can deny that advertising revenue on mobile is helping drive the improvement of mobile search,? Ms. McConnell said. 

?However, with over 70 percent of Facebook?s total online advertising revenue coming from mobile, coupled with its new in-app search feature, this social-network-turned-search-engine has primed itself to drive the push forward in mobile search, helping improve the way online users interact with ads, content, and ultimately, themselves,? she said. 

Final Take?
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York