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"FORTUNE &amp;#8212; When Google unveiled free word processing and spreadsheet apps back in 2007, the company wasn\u2019t trying to immediately topple Microsoft\u2019s Office suite. After all, Google\u2019s apps were\u2015and still are\u2015inferior to powerful programs like Word and Excel. But their launch was the beginning of a long-term campaign to nibble away at one of Microsoft\u2019s core franchises. In fiscal 2012 Microsoft\u2019s business division, which includes Office, brought in $24 billion. But there is little doubt that it would be even larger had Google not offered a cheaper alternative now used by millions of businesses.\nFacebook \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFB\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t is taking a page from Google\u2019s \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGOOG\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t playbook. The social networking giant on Tuesday unveiled a search service. It is not aimed at toppling Google from its perch as the king of Web search any time soon. Instead, it is the opening round in a long-term campaign to erode Google\u2019s monopoly over the most powerful and profitable business on the Internet. If successful, Facebook\u2019s so-called \u201Cgraph search\u201D will offer users an alternative to Google that may work better for many types of queries. In due time, it could turn into a tidy business for Facebook.\n\u201CGraph search is not Web search,\u201D Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook\u2019s co-founder and chief executive, said during a packed press conference at the company\u2019s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif.\nIndeed, Facebook only searches for things that have happened on its sprawling site. For now, it concentrates on four types of searches: people, photos, interests and places. But the types of queries possible with Facebook\u2019s new service are innovative and useful. Users can &amp;#8220;find friends who like soccer&amp;#8221; or &amp;#8220;find friends who like soccer in your hometown.&amp;#8221; Users can find all the photos they\u2019ve liked or all the photos their friends have taken in Paris. They can find restaurants in San Francisco liked by friends who are locals, or by friends who are Indian\u2015say if they&amp;#8217;re in the mood for spicy food. Users can\u2019t do that on Google.\nMORE:\u00A07 social networks to watch in 2013\nThe promise of this kind of service\u2014which, by the way, was built by a team of 50 engineers led by two ex-Googlers\u2014is enormous. For starters, it could broaden the utility of Facebook, turning it from a tool of interaction into one that helps users discover new things. And Google, which is trying to be the place where people find not only other Web pages, but also restaurants or plumbers or HD televisions, should be worried. (Google declined to comment.)\nYet Facebook\u2019s caution\u2015graph search is still in beta or test mode, and is only being rolled out to a very small fraction of the site\u2019s more than 1 billion users\u2015is warranted. The company\u2019s demo was dazzling, but the queries were for users who were also Facebook employees. These are Facebook \u201Csuper-users\u201D who likely check in every place they go, and click the Like button on every book, song or brand they, well, like.\nI\u2019d venture a guess that the majority of Facebookers are more parsimonious in their usage of the site and may not regularly share what they\u2019re reading or listening to, let alone recommend their plumber, dentist or contractor to their closest 500 friends. Without that information, their contribution to the search graph will be limited. I have hundreds of Facebook friends, yet the answer to the query &amp;#8220;pizza places in Oakland that my friends like&amp;#8221; was hardly satisfying\u2014it listed just one result. (Regular Facebook users can request access to graph search here.)\nAnd of course, Google has never been known for taking its eye off the ball when it comes to search. The company already has a social network in Google+. While it lacks the level of activity that Facebook enjoys, it could readily serve as the basis for Google to build a rival graph search service. (As\u00A0Fortune\u00A0chronicled in its 2011 cover story, this battle has been a long time coming.)\nMORE:\u00A019 incredible Apple secrets\nThe biggest understatement of the press conference may well have been Zuckerberg\u2019s response to the question of monetization. \u201CThis could potentially be a business over time,\u201D he said. For now, graph search has no ads. But if people start searching for restaurants of stores in large numbers, plenty of those businesses will be willing to pay Facebook in exchange for preferential placement in search results. Zuckerberg said Facebook would focus on improving the product, and rolling it out on mobile phones and in other languages, before it considers taking ads.\n\u201CThis is one of the coolest things that I think we have done in a while,\u201D Zuckerberg said. Many Facebook analysts agree. If Facebook appeared beleaguered after its disastrous IPO, Zuck\u2019s crew is gunning for Google again, reminding its biggest rival that while it was down for while it certainly wasn\u2019t out.\nOh, and as the two giants battle it out in the coming years, there is bound to be collateral damage. On Tuesday, shares of Yelp \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tYELP\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t, which risks being tripped up by Facebook\u2019s graph search sooner than Google will, dropped more than 6%."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://fortune.com/2013/01/15/facebook-vs-google-its-on-in-search/?iid=SF_F_River/>