Facebook is set to hold a press event later today, and it appears the whole thing’s going to be a massive kick in the teeth for Google. Not only is the social network expected to unveil its own smartphone, possibly powered by its own platform, but it’s also expected to hit Google where it really hurts — in search. Rumor has it the company will unveil its own search engine, which will rollout to users “very soon.”

Sources for Pocket-lint claim that Facebook is planning to launch a major new search feature that’s set to “shake everything up.” Although it’s unclear exactly how the search engine will work, it’s believed it will be integrated into the company’s hugely popular social network in the very near future.

Sources who don’t wish to be named have confirmed to Pocket-lint that the big announcement at the company’s event will focus on the new search feature with an expected roll-out shortly afterwards. Although the information is light on detail, the source is trusted and has given us legitimate information before.

Facebook already offers basic search features, but they all center around the company’s own services. You can search the web from Facebook.com, but all of its results are currently powered by Bing, Microsoft’s search engine. The feature Facebook is expected to announce later today will presumably replace Bing, and place a bigger focus on search.

While Google may be the world’s most popular search engine, if any company has the potential to put a big dent in its numbers, it’s Facebook. The social network currently boasts more than 1 billion active users, and if they can all search for the things they’re looking for from their Facebook timelines, there will be no need for them to leave the page to visit Google.

Facebook’s press event will get underway at 10 a.m. PST today.

• SourcePocket-lint