Facebook is testing an internal search engine for its mobile app, according to a report from Tech Crunch. The move comes from the social network in a bid to boost the amount of links its users share .
Some iOS users are seeing an “add a link” option next to the buttons to add photos, locations, and feelings. Users can search a keyword in the link function and Facebook will suggest related news articles to post. This ensures that users don’t have to Google Search for a link before they can post it to their status update. The main aim of the social network is prevent people from leaving website.
The ‘add a link’ option shows users a matching link once they put in a query in the search box. Users can then simply choose the desired link and publish it with pictures or status updates. It remains to be seen how soon the ‘in-app’ search option will be rolled out to Facebook users. This new feature could also be related to Facebook’s plan to get publishers to post content to its site directly.