Hitwise recently released a report indicating social networks receive more traffic than search engines, which prompted Kingpin-SEO Webmaster magazine to ask the whether or not social networks are becoming “more important” than search engines.

The question is really moot because it pits communication against utility. The fact is that search engines are a tool for finding information while social networks are a means of communication. Sure, people might use certain social networks as a way to find information, however, it is highly unlikely that social networks will ever become the main means of doing so.

This is the case mostly because social networks are designed to help people connect with like-minded individuals and (for now) do not have the capability to search the web for authoritative and/or non-biased information. If you want a recommendation on a particular product or service, you can tap your network for the opinions of people you’re connected to. Depending on the types of people in your network, these may or may not be scientific observations.

Where do you go for scientific observations? You have to dig a little deeper and often the first place people will go for authoritative, more objective information, is to a search engine. Search engines index a larger capacity of web information and have algorithms to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Facebook may be looking to bridge this gap with its new Open-Graph search engine, with its own set of SEO standards, analysts expect to spark a “full scale” search engine war. Facebook’s new social semantic search will filter information, not just based on SEO but by relevance to the searcher as well.

It looks like Google’s status as the king of search is being challenged on all fronts and with Facebook already being the most trafficked site in the world, it will be interesting to see who will come out on top.

Will social semantic search be the next evolution of search? Time will tell.