Exploring the intersection of creativity and technology.

Written and collected by Ryan Catalani (@magicofpi).

  1. Three notes about Facebook’s new search bar placeholder text

    June 15, 2012

    The placeholder text in Facebook’s search bar used to say, if I recall correctly, “Search.” It now says “Search for people, places and things,” at least for me. My thoughts:

    1. It’s quite accurate: almost everybody, every business, and everything has a Facebook page now. There’s even a page called No Eating Bacon Sundaes at Burger King. (“We’re garnishing our desserts with bacon! Who do we think we are!”) 
    2. It sounds like a direct shot across Google’s bow. Or Wolfram Alpha’s. Or Siri’s. Or maybe all three. Facebook’s search has long been integrated with Bing, and now Bing has integrated social results from Facebook. I may be wildly overanalyzing a small, five-word addition to placeholder text that few people even read, but could this be indicative of larger plans by Facebook?
    3. It’s missing an Oxford comma.