Independent digital marketing agency Greenlight conducted a global survey earlier in the year entitled “Search & Survey (2011-2012)” - and uncovered some astounding results: mainly that Facebook (News - Alert) could capture up to 25 percent of the global search market if it were to launch its own search engine. If this were to hold true, the social media superstar would be positioned near the top of the search engine competition in every major market except for Japan, China and Russia.

The survey added that Facebook could increase its percentage by up to 50 percent in just a few years, stating that the social networking site has true potential to become a tough competitor for Google (News - Alert). 


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Greenlight surveyed 500 people over a wide demographic. Respondents included medical staff, students, lawyers and even people who were unemployed to determine how users engage the Web in terms of social networks, search engines and online advertising. This was to gauge and obtain knowledge about how consumers respond to and interact with marketers on the Internet.

The survey concluded that Facebook has a unique opportunity and is advantageously positioned in the search market, as pointed out by Facebook founder and COO Mark Zuckerberg (News - Alert) at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco last week, where he confirmed that Facebook is already working on something related to search.

"Facebook is pretty uniquely positioned to answer the questions people have," Mark Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg has made it very clear that the social networking company has every intention of pursuing the search market, and will clearly set itself to rival Google by combining social networking with one of the most valuable areas in the industry.

Greenlight’s COO Andreas Pouros stated that the survey stats suggest that Facebook could get around 22 percent of the search market all over the world if the company decided to launch its search engine tomorrow morning. This was concluded based on the number of ‘definitely’, ‘probably’ and ‘don’t know’ answered by the respondents in the survey.

“Essentially, Greenlight’s research shows that Google and Facebook will both be front and center in 'Social Search',” said Pouros in Greenlight’s report.

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