7 ms·

This is likely more indicative of society: A. Becoming more computer-literate and going straight to sites as opposed to always Googling it before clicking, eve

by alehul 10y ago

This is likely more indicative of society: A. Becoming more computer-literate and going straight to sites as opposed to always Googling it before clicking, even once familiar with the URL, which won't correlate to usage B. Visiting the site enough for AutoFill to take effect, which is ever-so-slightly inverse in correlation in terms of search popularity to site popularity Here's a FB-related search term people will still use, even with AutoFill for Facebook, as some evidence. The rise is a similar pattern, but lacking the major drop: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=Facebook%20contact https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=Facebook...

anxrn 10y ago
Agree. Another factor is mobile usage. The % of users that use Facebook _exclusively_ as an app is likely trending up as well.
nostrademons 10y ago
[facebook] was the most common search query when I was at Google (roughly the period covered by this graph), and [facebook login] would alternate between #2 and #3. Neither of your options seem likely at all to me - over the time I was there, I witnessed people becoming more likely to navigate to sites via Googling them rather than clicking, not less. The trend is even more pronounced with mobile, where basically nobody types in a URL, they use voice search and speak the name of the site. I would bet on the Facebook mobile app being a major cause, though. Instead of hitting the web version at all, they're opening the mobile app.
- brockvond 10y ago
  I agree with this... also the rise of predictive searching in browsers and the omnibar etc.
- perseusprime11 10y ago
  Also, why would you search for facebook anymore since everyone knows facebook.com site at this point.
  - jacquesm 10y ago
    Because search is the new navigation, whether you like it or not.
    - pizzetta 10y ago
      Yep, it's the new navigation because of search noted above and because of typo squatters with malware.
    - forrestthewoods 10y ago
      Not on mobile. Not to launch an app.
  - Frqy3 10y ago
    I never type in URLs directly. It is either a single click on the menu bar/blank tab, or else I go via a search engine to reduce the risk of landing on a typo squatter.
  - netsharc 10y ago
    I've seen several ads on TV and billboards which just say "Search for $brandname $productname" instead of a URL.
- Waterluvian 10y ago
  Do people really voice search for things like that? Aside from drivers going hands-free, I have never seen a colleague or friend use voice commands where it wasn't just for the novelty.
  - nostrademons 10y ago
    I do, and I've heard a bunch of my friends do it. On Android voice recognition is both fairly reliable and really easy, so why not?
    - Waterluvian 10y ago
      Yeah it absolutely is reliable and easy. I just haven't seen it catch on among my circles. Interesting.
      - wutbrodo 10y ago
        IME, the first people in my friend group who started doing it were the ones who weren't insecure about looking "uncool" (so a combination of unapologetic techies and people without low self-esteem). Afaict, that's the main reason that people don't use a feature that would otherwise save tons of time.
        genofon 10y ago
        I'm not afraid of being seen as an uncool geeky, but I would never use it as I don't like to broadcast what I am looking for to all my neighbors, even when I am alone I prefer silence, typing now requires basically the same amount of time.
  - prodmerc 10y ago
    Yes, I like voice search. I still won't use "OK Google", because it's the new Bluetooth headset, only douchebags use it in public. Come on Google, how much do you lose by allowing custom phrases?
- autokad 10y ago
  80% of facebooks revenue comes from mobile, so i wouldnt be surprised if that contributed a lot. however, i dont see how facebook being #2 and #3 among searches means anything against the fact that most people either dont close facebook or as soon as they type 'f' facebook.com is autocomplete. unless you get to see how many autocompleted hits they are getting, you are experiencing a selection bias
- deadowl 10y ago
  Was that also the case with people googling google.com? https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=google.com https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=google.com
- alehul 10y ago
  With the native iOS app being released in 2012, the timeline would be perfect for that, yeah. Does the mobile app take away that much usage from the web? I can see how it'll increase overall usage as people will use FB when they otherwise couldn't, but I imagine anyone who could be using it on a computer will still use the web version over a mobile app (web seems more functional, especially so with the recent Facebook/Messenger division).
  - nostrademons 10y ago
    A lot of workplace usage has shifted to mobile. Many workplaces will monitor all your Internet usage, and so once mobile became available, many people decided that rather than letting their employers know how much time they waste during the day, they'd use their own private Internet connection for that. We saw a similar effect at Google with porn queries, particularly during the day. As soon as image search came to mobile Google, many porn queries moved to mobile; as of 2013 porn queries were twice as likely on mobile search as desktop.
nerdponx 10y ago
If this were true, we'd see similar drops in other popular sites like Amazon and Apple and Google itself. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=facebook,google,amazon,yahoo,youtube https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=facebook...
- brilliantcode 10y ago
  This shows the underlying utility of Facebook compared to other tech giants distilled in to a really generic scenario. - You go to Google to research what to buy. - You go to Amazon to give Amazon your hard earned money. - You go to Facebook to brag what you bought. Yet the market cap of Facebook rivals those two with far less revenue and highest multiplier. This cannot last.
  - AnthonyMouse 10y ago
    In theory the reason for this is that Facebook is "stickier" than Google or Amazon. If Google search isn't working for you, you can switch to something else in a heartbeat. If Facebook isn't working for you, you have to get all your friends to switch to something else before you can. The problem is this is also going to be Facebook's downfall at some indeterminate future date. Because if some other social network ever becomes more popular than Facebook, Facebook is over.
    - AznHisoka 10y ago
      Most people can't switch from google to something else in a heartbeat... we can email our friends, text them or meet them in the bar though.
      - glibgil 10y ago
        I cannot email my friends
    - idiot_stick 10y ago
      I'm relatively tech savvy, but I'm not sure my significant other would know where to go if Google was down. DDG or even Bing are not top of mind. What else is there?

by alehul 10y ago

anxrn 10y ago

Agree. Another factor is mobile usage. The % of users that use Facebook _exclusively_ as an app is likely trending up as well.

nostrademons 10y ago

[facebook] was the most common search query when I was at Google (roughly the period covered by this graph), and [facebook login] would alternate between #2 and #3. Neither of your options seem likely at all to me - over the time I was there, I witnessed people becoming more likely to navigate to sites via Googling them rather than clicking, not less. The trend is even more pronounced with mobile, where basically nobody types in a URL, they use voice search and speak the name of the site. I would bet on the Facebook mobile app being a major cause, though. Instead of hitting the web version at all, they're opening the mobile app.

brockvond 10y ago
I agree with this... also the rise of predictive searching in browsers and the omnibar etc.
perseusprime11 10y ago
Also, why would you search for facebook anymore since everyone knows facebook.com site at this point.
- jacquesm 10y ago
  Because search is the new navigation, whether you like it or not.
  - pizzetta 10y ago
    Yep, it's the new navigation because of search noted above and because of typo squatters with malware.
  - forrestthewoods 10y ago
    Not on mobile. Not to launch an app.
- Frqy3 10y ago
  I never type in URLs directly. It is either a single click on the menu bar/blank tab, or else I go via a search engine to reduce the risk of landing on a typo squatter.
- netsharc 10y ago
  I've seen several ads on TV and billboards which just say "Search for $brandname $productname" instead of a URL.
Waterluvian 10y ago
Do people really voice search for things like that? Aside from drivers going hands-free, I have never seen a colleague or friend use voice commands where it wasn't just for the novelty.
- nostrademons 10y ago
  I do, and I've heard a bunch of my friends do it. On Android voice recognition is both fairly reliable and really easy, so why not?
  - Waterluvian 10y ago
    Yeah it absolutely is reliable and easy. I just haven't seen it catch on among my circles. Interesting.
    - wutbrodo 10y ago
      IME, the first people in my friend group who started doing it were the ones who weren't insecure about looking "uncool" (so a combination of unapologetic techies and people without low self-esteem). Afaict, that's the main reason that people don't use a feature that would otherwise save tons of time.
      - genofon 10y ago
        I'm not afraid of being seen as an uncool geeky, but I would never use it as I don't like to broadcast what I am looking for to all my neighbors, even when I am alone I prefer silence, typing now requires basically the same amount of time.
- prodmerc 10y ago
  Yes, I like voice search. I still won't use "OK Google", because it's the new Bluetooth headset, only douchebags use it in public. Come on Google, how much do you lose by allowing custom phrases?
autokad 10y ago
80% of facebooks revenue comes from mobile, so i wouldnt be surprised if that contributed a lot. however, i dont see how facebook being #2 and #3 among searches means anything against the fact that most people either dont close facebook or as soon as they type 'f' facebook.com is autocomplete. unless you get to see how many autocompleted hits they are getting, you are experiencing a selection bias
deadowl 10y ago
Was that also the case with people googling google.com? https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=google.com https://www.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=google.com
alehul 10y ago
With the native iOS app being released in 2012, the timeline would be perfect for that, yeah. Does the mobile app take away that much usage from the web? I can see how it'll increase overall usage as people will use FB when they otherwise couldn't, but I imagine anyone who could be using it on a computer will still use the web version over a mobile app (web seems more functional, especially so with the recent Facebook/Messenger division).
- nostrademons 10y ago
  A lot of workplace usage has shifted to mobile. Many workplaces will monitor all your Internet usage, and so once mobile became available, many people decided that rather than letting their employers know how much time they waste during the day, they'd use their own private Internet connection for that. We saw a similar effect at Google with porn queries, particularly during the day. As soon as image search came to mobile Google, many porn queries moved to mobile; as of 2013 porn queries were twice as likely on mobile search as desktop.

nerdponx 10y ago

If this were true, we'd see similar drops in other popular sites like Amazon and Apple and Google itself. https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=facebook,google,amazon,yahoo,youtube https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=facebook...

brilliantcode 10y ago
This shows the underlying utility of Facebook compared to other tech giants distilled in to a really generic scenario. - You go to Google to research what to buy. - You go to Amazon to give Amazon your hard earned money. - You go to Facebook to brag what you bought. Yet the market cap of Facebook rivals those two with far less revenue and highest multiplier. This cannot last.
- AnthonyMouse 10y ago
  In theory the reason for this is that Facebook is "stickier" than Google or Amazon. If Google search isn't working for you, you can switch to something else in a heartbeat. If Facebook isn't working for you, you have to get all your friends to switch to something else before you can. The problem is this is also going to be Facebook's downfall at some indeterminate future date. Because if some other social network ever becomes more popular than Facebook, Facebook is over.
  - AznHisoka 10y ago
    Most people can't switch from google to something else in a heartbeat... we can email our friends, text them or meet them in the bar though.
    - glibgil 10y ago
      I cannot email my friends
  - idiot_stick 10y ago
    I'm relatively tech savvy, but I'm not sure my significant other would know where to go if Google was down. DDG or even Bing are not top of mind. What else is there?