Google vs. Facebook: Peewee League or World Cup of Social
August 10, 2011
Search vs. Social Media. Google vs. Facebook. The two sides seem to be locked in what some pundits and “real” experts see as an epic battle for ultimate Internet supremacy. Slow news day? Brilliant insight?
Both sides have significantly changed the online landscape. With Google’s new Google + social network, the two are now fighting over essentially the same territory, and ultimately the same advertising revenue. The Guardian reports in, “Google and Facebook Get Personal in Battle for Social Networking Rewards.” We learned:
Ultimately the real battle is over cold, hard cash. Google made 97% of its revenues, or $32.3bn, in the past 12 months from advertising. eMarketer, meanwhile estimates that Facebook’s largely ad-generated revenues will grow from $0.74bn in 2009 to $5.74bn in 2012 – yet the site has hardly begun rolling out truly personalized, targeted advertising. If there is any of Google’s lunch to be eaten, it is here.
Google has admitted to being behind the curve in the social media game. Facebook is deeply entrenched and has momentum on its side. Google maintains that at its heart it is still a search company, but Google + can add another level to the personalization and identity of the searcher. They are not trying to recreate exactly what Facebook has done, and that’s exactly the problem.
World Cup?
We noted this passage:
Though Google+ is an intelligent attempt at a social networking tool, it seems a typical Google product in that it is brilliantly, heavily engineered but lacks the human focus required for a social network – the fuel that has propelled Facebook to 750 million users.
Peewee Nationals?
It comes down to who controls access to the web. Who sets their homepage to Google and who sets their homepage to Facebook? Google wants to ensure that whether an individual is search centered or social media centered, that person is accessing the web through one of their services.
Ironically, people are scrambling on Facebook to obtain Google + invites. New and exciting, there is a buzz, but there doesn’t seem to be much momentum. Why recreate your social media profile? Has Google + succeeded in convincing users that they can provide a service that Facebook neglects? Does Google need to keep up with Facebook, or will its dominance of search be enough to ensure its relevancy for the coming generations?
This much is true, Google is not one to be outdone. It never steps down from a fight and doesn’t like to be left out of the “next big thing.” So we anticipate that Google + will stick around, with more coaxing and marketing. Time will be the true test on whether or not Google will ever overtake Facebook in users, or if Facebook will ever overtake Google’s advertising revenue. And so the fight rages on. We just don’t know whether this is a world cup or peewee league contest—yet.
Emily Rae Aldridge, August 10, 2011
Sponsored by Pandia.com, publishers of The New Landscape of Enterprise Search
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