This afternoon, Facebook had a big press event scheduled to reveal something they were “building” that’s been kept a secret. The event is still underway, but so far their big announcement is the “third pillar” of Facebook, which is Graph Search.

They’re saying the service is in Beta form right now, but that it will replace the blue bar at the top of Facebook with the f logo and a search bar. You can type things in such as “My friends in Chicago that like football” and it would list just what you would expect to see, your friends in Chicago that like football. It gives users another way to connect to each other. The search engine will include interests, pictures, places, etc.

The search results are also in a specific order. The friends you interact with the most appear at the top, and the others would be filtered below them.

On the right, you’ll have different options to refine your search.

Overall it looks pretty interesting and is a HUGE improvement over their current search functions. Instead of just scrolling through timelines to find pictures, places, interests, and things about your friends, now you can easily search for it.

Update

The services is limited right now, but global rollout will begin within the next few weeks and months. Another note is that their partnership with Microsoft still appears to be strong as they announced regular web search results will be available through Bing if Facebook can’t find what you’re looking for.

Facebook Newsroom

To learn more about Graph Search & to sign up for the waiting list, visit http://www.facebook.com/graphsearch