FACEBOOK GRAPH SEARCH: EYE TRACKING STUDY

March 2013 Mediative.com

How Do Users Scan a Facebook Graph Search Page?

2About MediativeMediative is a digital marketing company providing performance services and access to media platforms. Organizations who want to significantly enhance their digital presence and influence buyers turn to us to help generate revenue by quickly moving their targets from awareness to purchase.

Location and research-based data fuels our insight, which we leverage across our consultative performance services, online properties, and location-based marketing platforms in the dynamic digital world.

With precise and unmatched knowledge of how shoppers and clients buy, we take a consultative and holistic approach, based on our peoples passion for insight and results, to provide the outcomes you need now, and for the future.

3Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................

METHODOLOGY.............................................................................................................

THE RESULTS

AMOUNT OF VIEWS...........................................................................................

AMOUNT OF TIME SPENT ..............................................................................

PERFORMANCE BY AREAS OF INTEREST..................................................

BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS AND KEY TAKEAWAYS..............................................

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4Introduction

In January 2013, the third pillar of Facebook was released, behind News Feed and Timeline: Graph Search.

Facebook Graph Search is a semantic search engine, allowing a user to execute a natural-language query in Facebook across several objects (e.g. people, pages, places, public posts, check-ins, etc.) Query results are user-specific, based on the privacy settings and content of the users profile, and that of his or her network of connections (friends likes and interests, social recommendations and signals).

At Mediative, we have conducted many studies over the years using eye tracking technology to record where people look on a computer screen or device, and how they interact with web pages. The purpose of this research was to discover how people scan through a page of search results from Facebook Graph Search.

Was there one area that caught attention the quickest?

Where were peoples eyes drawn to for the longest?

Would the scanning patterns be similar to the Golden Triangle pattern so common on search engine results pages?

Summary of Findings

Not surprisingly, participants scanned through the listings in order.

Unlike typical search engine behaviour, there is not much horizontal scanning (which would lead to the triangle pattern weve classically seen).

The top two results were looked at by almost all participants (95%).

Image source: Facebook.com

The percentage of participants who looked at a result decreases fairly uniformly as one moves down the page.

The top text listing and the right rail were the Areas of Interest that captured the highest number of visits.

On average, participants looked at the text listings 48% more than the accompanying image and spent 138% more time looking at the text listing than the accompanying image.

On average, the right rail was the third element fixated on, after the first two results. The filters on the right rail were particularly engaging.

Graph Search

Graph Search Results

5Methodology

Using the Tobii T60 desktop eye tracker, 1280x1024 resolution, 21 participants of mixed age and gender completed a task on Graph Search in Mediatives TiveTank research lab in Toronto.

Each of the participants was given the same task, and presented with the Facebook page below. Once a page element was clicked (for example, a result, the Refine This Search filter, the map, etc.) the test ended. One Facebook account was used to ensure that everyone was presented with the same results.

The Task

Imagine youre looking for a restaurant in Toronto. You try Facebooks new local search engine and search for restaurants nearby. Youll see the results on the next page.

What would you do to find a restaurant for dinner tonight?

6Methodology

For this study, the Areas of Interest are the 12 results visible on the page, split into Image and Listing, and the Right Rail.

Key metrics measured were:

Time to First Fixation: The time (in seconds) before the participant fixated on an area of interest.

Fixations Before: The number of fixations elsewhere on the page before the participant fixated on an area of interest.

Visit Duration: The amount of time (in seconds) someone spent fixating inside an area of interest before they look outside of it again, regardless of the number of fixations.

Total Visit Duration: The total time (in seconds) of all visits (consecutive fixations on an area of interest).

Visit Count: The number of visits participants made during the session. E.g. if they looked at an area of interest twice, looking at something else in between, that counts as two visits.

Percentage Fixated: The percentage of the total participants who fixated on an area of interest at least once during the session.

We recorded each individual session. The sessions were then compiled to create heat maps that represent aggregate gaze data. These heat maps and the corresponding dark maps can be seen on the following pages.

Image

Listing

Right RailImage

Areas of Interest on Graph Search

7The Results

This Count Heat Map shows the amount of views that the areas of interest garnered. The red areas are those that had the most views, followed by yellow, and green.

Not surprisingly, participants scanned through the text listings in order, with more participants in general looking at a listing than the accompanying image.

Unlike typical search engine behaviour, theres not much horizontal scanning (which would lead to the triangle pattern weve classically seen). This can be partly attributed to the fact that that the Graph Search results only include business names on the top line. In search engines, where the horizontal scan is longer, there is more description in the title.

The other contributing factor could be that this research centered around a search for restaurants in an area that the participants were all familiar with. If the participants were unfamiliar with the restaurants, there might be more of a need to read the full name and restaurant information.

The Count Dark Map is the same data as presented in the Count Heat Map, however in this view it is possible to see exactly which areas of interest captured the most attention.

Count Heat Map

Count Dark Map

Amount of Views

8The Results

These Relative Heat and Dark Maps show the amount of time spent looking at an area of interest as a percentage of the time that was spent looking at the entire page.

Again, not surprisingly, participants spent more time looking at the listings at the top of the page, and in general more time was spent looking at a text listing than the accompanying image.

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Relative Heat Map

Relative Dark Map

Amount of Time Spent

9The Results

The charts on the next two pages show the results of the metrics measured for each Area of Interest:

Metrics Measured: Average Time to First Fixation Fixations Before Visit Duration Total Visit Duration Visit Count Percentage Fixated

Areas of Interest: Images 1-12 Text Listings 1-12 Right Rail

Time to First Fixation measures the time (in seconds) before the participant fixated on an area of interest.

Not surprisingly, the top results were viewed faster than the lower results.

Text listings captured attention on average 1.74 seconds faster than the images.

Where this is particularly noticeable is in the top two results, where the text listing was viewed almost three times faster (4.52 seconds) than the image.

On the top half of the page (results 1-6), listings were looked at before images. Its not until the seventh result that an image is viewed before the corresponding listing.

Average Time to First Fixation (Seconds)

Performance by Areas of Interest

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The Results

Visit Duration measures the amount of time (in seconds) someone spent fixating inside an area of interest before they look outside of it again, regardless of the number of fixations.

Following the pattern that we have already seen, the average duration of a visit to a text listing was 0.18 seconds longer (55%) than a visit to an image.

The right rail was the area of interest with the highest visit duration at 1.07 seconds, which we can attribute to the fact that there is more to see, and for the participants it was a feature previously unseen in Facebook. The Visit Duration to the right rail was 152% longer than the average Visit Duration to the results (listings and images).

Fixations Before measures the number of times a participant looks elsewhere on the page before fixating on a specified area of interest.

In this case, the top two text listings captured attention very quickly compared to the rest of the page. The two text listings were viewed after an average of 3.59 fixations elsewhere on the page. The average for the entire page was 33.94 fixations elsewhere on the page before fixating on an area of interest.

For the top two results, the image was noticed after an average of 10.72 fixations elsewhere, almost three times that of the text listing.

The right rail was fixated on relatively quickly with 16.71 fixations elsewhere on the page before it was noticed. On average, it was the third element fixated on, after the first two results. The filters were particularly engaging.

Average Fixations Before

Average Visit Duration (Seconds)

Performance by Areas of Interest

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The Results

Visit Count measures the number of visits participants made during the session. E.g. if they looked at an area of interest twice, looking at something else in between, that counts as two visits.

On average, participants looked at the text listings for 0.84 more visits (48% more) than the accompanying images.

The top text listing and the right rail were clearly the areas of interest that captured the highest number of visits at 3.62 and 3.88 respectively.

Total Visit Duration measures the total time (in seconds) of all visits (consecutive fixations on an area of interest).

The average Total Visit Duration to text listings was 0.79 seconds longer (138%) than the Total Visit Duration to the accompanying images.

The right rail had the highest Total Visit Duration at 4.17 seconds, which we can again attribute to the fact that there is more to see, and for the participants it was a feature previously unseen in Facebook.

The Total Visit Duration to the right rail was 325% longer than the average Total Visit Duration to the results (listings and images).

Average Total Visit Duration (Seconds)

Average Visit Count

Performance by Areas of Interest

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The Results

Percentage Fixated measures the percentage of the total participants who fixated on an area of interest at least once during the session.

The top two text listings were looked at by almost all participants (95%).

77% of participants looked at the right rail.

The percentage of participants who looked at a result decreases fairly uniformly as one moves down the page.

Average Percentage Fixated

Performance by Areas of Interest

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Business Implications and Key Takeaways

The purpose of this research was to discover how people scan through a page of search results from Facebook Graph Search. The results can lead us to the conclusion that being in the top two or three listings is key to ensuring the listing is viewed quickly, and by longer than other elements on the page.

However, considering that Facebook Graph Search pulls results from recommendations and likes of people in your network, what you see for a search could be very different to the results seen by someone making the same search while standing next to you.

How can businesses maximize the chances of appearing in Graph Search results?

1. LikesLikes demonstrate a social vote for a particular companys brand, and alerts friends to the fact that you are socially nominating the business. Likes will form the basis for appearing in Facebook search results, so you need to start encouraging more people to Like you. Encourage more Likes by:

Adding a Like button to other online brand assets such as email, website etc., as well as offline physical collateral such as menus, posters, etc.

Run Facebook advertising campaigns which can be very inexpensive and can convert more people to Like your business.

Increase your social activity, giving people more reason to Like your page (post interesting comments, stories, images, etc).

Run contests to encourage existing fans to share posts to appear in their news feeds. E.g. contests for best photo, best quote, share contests, etc.

2. Check-insIf the query on Graph Search is Restaurants my friends have been to then check-ins will influence the results shown. Ensure that you have claimed a Facebook page for each location so that people can actually check-in, as well as a promotional strategy to get more people to check-in at your locations. Offering incentives, such as discounts or coupons to people who check-in to your location, whether regularly or for the first time, is an effective way to encourage more check-ins.

3. Business Information As you can see in the example below, business information is listed in the results. If this is inaccurate or incomplete, it could result in a missed visit to the location. Ensure your business name, address, phone number, website and hours of operation are all accurate. Duplicate listings must also be removed so that only one authentic listing for your business exists, and you control it.

The introduction of Facebook Graph Search clearly has implications for businesses, particularly those with a local presence, or that are driven by recommendations such as restaurants, retail stores, local services, etc. Make sure your business or brand is not left behind, and get started optimizing your local Facebook pages for Graph Search.

For more information on how Mediative can help, contact us at info@mediative.com.

Questions?Ask One Of Mediatives Digital Marketing Strategistsinfo@mediative.com

For every fan you engage there are 34 more reachable friends Source: http://www.openforum.com/infographics/the-simple-science-of-facebook-engagement/

Mediative.comMarch 2013

1.800.277.9997 Info@Mediative.com