Facebook starts selling Graph Search hard, despite fact that it’s still not available to most users

In January, Facebook announced the release of its newest product, Graph Search. Although the service is available to “hundreds of thousands” of its users right now, the social network has shared some of their favorite things that people are using it today: finding out about their friends, looking for photos, planning trips, and discovering new things.

When it launched, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Graph Search was a new way for users to get new information and connections on Facebook. When it comes to looking for people, the company says that some ideas people are trying include videos of their friends, those that are engaged, photos of friends before 2009, and friends of my friends who like Kevin Bacon (really!).

For photos, Facebook says that Graph Search can be used to find pictures of friends and family. However, because there is a lot of public content being shared by brands or news organizations, people have begun to do some queries such as looking for photos by The New York Times, National Geographic, the NFL team Baltimore Ravens, and even underwater photography.

Something that shouldn’t come as a surprise for us, but yet might still find fascinating is that users are querying things to help plan their upcoming trips. Facebook says that Graph Search is being used to look for activities and trips on their next adventure — in addition to browsing their friends’ holiday photos, of course. Interesting searches include hotels near the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, ski resorts their friends have been to, places they have visited, and places that people named “Waldo” have been to.

Lastly, Facebook is hoping that Graph Search will allow users to discover new things. And it looks like people are searching for some rather interesting things. The social network says that some of the queries that people have run include videos of TV shows liked by their friends, movies liked by people who like their favorite movies, favorite hobbies by CEOs, and Apps that their friends like.

The 💜 of EU tech

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!

While this is all very interesting and great, there are still millions of people who are still waiting for Graph Search so these queries could change. Facebook points out that these aren’t top searches, but rather the ones they find fascinating.

Graph Search has been the focus by some on the issue about privacy and security. Just recently, the social network said that it would show search results for uses under 18 only to other minors, thereby preventing anyone from corrupting the day for their own perverted ways. Additionally, it has gone on to remind users about their privacy settings so that they know how to avoid having those photos, interests, and connections from being revealed to the public.

Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images