FriendFeed Buy: Another Step Toward Facebook Search Engine?

Facebook's launch of a new search function and its acquisition of FriendFeed are undoubtedly the first steps toward Facebook becoming a full-blown search engine.

FriendFeed is an online sharing service that lets users develop customized feeds made up of content that users' friends have shared. The service allows users to start conversations around shared items, contribute to shared streams, and subscribe to updates from individuals or groups sharing content of particular interest.

In the wake of Facebook's FriendFeed acquisition, the theory is that Facebook will get more Google-like, being that FriendFeed was started by ex-Google employees. Another theory is that Facebook will become an even stronger player in the social networking space, rivaling the likes of Twitter.

Both theories are incredibly likely, but it also stands to reason that Facebook now has the capability to evolve into a full-blown search engine and take its roughly 250 million users with it.

Facebook's addition Monday of a new search feature that lets people search past information via keywords, coupled with the FriendFeed acquisition that lets friends share content and customized feeds, signal that Facebook is dipping more than just a toe into the search pool. The new search function essentially lets Facebook users search for key terms, such as a specific news event, artists or place. The function will deliver results based on those keywords as they were used by Facebook members.

Yes, Facebook's search evolution will start with searches restricted to users' and friends' Wall posts and comments and evolve to searches of links and posted content such as news stories and videos. Who's to say Facebook won't soon mix search results from outside Facebook among Facebook news feed items, or information from other social networking sites? Some Facebook users, for example, have already linked their Facebook and Twitter feeds. Facebook also already has an external search function via a deal with Microsoft, so blending the two to serve up internal and external search results in realtime isn't too far afield.

From there, logic dictates Facebook users will be able to search outside their friends and join discussions around certain topics they search for via keyword.

Boosting its search capabilities would give Facebook a stronger hold on users and keep them on Facebook longer.

FriendFeed co-founder Bret Taylor said in a blog post that FriendFeed and Facebook share a common social networking vision, a vision that could likely evolve into full-fledged search.

"Now we have the opportunity to bring many of the innovations we've developed at FriendFeed to Facebook's 250 million users around the world and to work alongside Facebook's passionate engineers to create even more ways for you to easily share with your friends online," Taylor wrote in the post.