During my daily routine of logging into countless user accounts on either end of the Internet, I was quite surprised to see a message from Facebook asking me to edit my search listing settings.

The social media giant announced this morning that the site will be indexed by Google, Yahoo! and MSN within the next few weeks and users profiles will be displayed in search results, depending on their search listing settings. You'll also be able to search Facebook even if you're not logged in - the result will look like so:

I wonder what this will do for:

• People searching - Perhaps the massive social database coupled with the indexing power of search engine spiders will finally prove to be a decent people search utility. I can just hear people saying “Google me”, or “Are you in The 'Book'?” instead of “Ok, give me your number and I’ll miss call you so you can get mine”.
• eMarketing in general  - Ooh, the potential. If you’re reading this it’s obvious that I don’t have to elaborate too much, but I will say this off of the top of my head: SEM, spam and surely a massive boost in Facebook traffic.

I’m sure the effects of this move by Facebook will resonate higher than anyone’s expectations. Now all we need to do is think of a way to harness the potential.

Read more from the source. Take a look at the original Facebook press release.