Ever since Facebook Co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed the topic of search at TechCrunch Disrupt in September, industry experts have been wondering what the social network would do. The answer is Facebook’s graph search — a tool that combines Web searching with the connections that users have on the site. It’s a powerful tool that can be used by people looking for photos of friends, connections, dentists, restaurants, movies, or pretty much anything else. This new utility can challenge Google, Yelp — and even Match.com.

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The graph search friends-based search engine Facebook announced Tuesday can be a valuable source for valuable sources for journalists, and for photos, as well, Journalist Program Manager Vadim Lavrusik wrote in a note on the Facebook + Journalists page.

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For the past few months, Facebook has been brewing a search engine that could change the way people find things. Now Facebook has it, with graph search. To be launched soon, graph search is a friend-based search engine that connects users to places all over the social network via friend recommendations and activity. Users can sign up to get on the wait list to be among the first to try it by clicking here.

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Perhaps learning from mistakes of the recent past, Facebook-owned photo-sharing application Instagram sent a reminder email to its users this week about changes to its privacy policy, which take effect Jan. 19.

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Newton Lee’s book, Facebook Nation: Total Information Awareness, is a great book for social media experts, offering a comprehensive look at Facebook in the context of social media, and covering privacy well.

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Last June, we reported on Facebook’s test of a call button for video chatting, as an alternative to the video-camera icon in the window for text chats. Another call button has surfaced, this one on pages viewed via its Android application.

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While there are several platforms that try to make the birthday experience more special on Facebook, iOS application Cleverbug feels that it can revolutionize the way birthday cards are given. By allowing users to pick from their friends’ Facebook photos and getting mutual friends into the fun, Cleverbug allows people to create engaging memories that go far beyond a simple “Happy birthday!” timeline post.

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AgoraPulse, which provides Facebook page analytics, now offers marketers the ability to tailor mobile-only campaigns. With AgoraPulse’s mobile technology, brands can offer optimized experiences to those who access contests or promotions from desktops or smartphones.

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Facebook Co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been one of the most-discussed figures of our time. Some people love him, some criticize him, but most just watching from the sidelines marvel at how a 19-year-old could become the 29th-richest person in the world (according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index) by building a simple social program. Last week, I finished reading Think Like Zuck: The Five Business Secrets of Facebook’s Improbably Brilliant CEO Mark Zuckerberg by Ekaterina Walter and I found a lot of answers to that very question. So I sat down with her to talk about the book and Facebook in general.

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Facebook is apparently testing a new way for links to become more prominent in the news feed. According to sister site Inside Facebook, the link preview image will grow from 90 x 90 pixels to 154 x 154.

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