July 24, 2007 | Tuesday
Is Facebook the new Google?
By Jackie Danicki - Blogger in Search Engines |Google
I’ve been hearing that question a lot, which makes a change: Before, everyone just talked about Facebook as another social network. If anything, many people seemed to think that it was going after the territory MySpace had dominated.
But no. Now whispers are that Facebook is “the new Google”. What I’m wondering…
Does that make Google “the new Microsoft”? Either way, I’m sure Bill Gates and friends are having a giggle or two at the fact that there is even a perceived threat to Google in Facebook.
This isn’t just about Google employees jumping ship for Facebook and doing their best to bring their old colleagues with them. It’s not even about the fact that Facebook is now being touted as the ”13th most used search engine in the world” (a stat that made it into the Sunday Times this past weekend, as you may have read).
No, this is a fight for each of these companies to ensure that most of the people in the world are using their systems to run their lives, so the companies can in turn make money off of them.
Facebook has gone from being “just” a social network - Friends Reunited, online dating, LinkedIn and more, all rolled into one - to a platform. On that platform, all kinds of software can run.
While Google has been building its own programs (such as Google Documents, Google Spreadsheets, Google Talk, and all the other ones in perpetual beta) and rolling them out to the world, Facebook opened up its system to the world’s software developers and said, “Go ahead. Make cool stuff, and make it available to our users.” This costs Facebook nothing, gives the developers a chance to show off and gain new users, and really boosts the site’s offering. So now you can not just connect with contacts on Facebook, you can publish to your blog directly from the site, organize and share your photo albums, share your virtual bookshelf, and even ‘bite’ your friends in a game of vampires and zombies.
This freewheeling, open API for developers has caught on like wildfire, and Facebook’s number of registered users has skyrocketed. (For those of us who are “old skool” Facebook members, it is very striking - and strange - when every person you ever worked with or met at a party - once! - suddenly shows up on the site, trying to add you as a friend. MySpace never enjoyed this level of take-off with adult professionals. Researcher Danah Boyd has more on this that makes for fascinating lunchtime reading.)
The secret to Facebook’s success for now seems to be that it’s fun. Developers (and, all too often, marketers) can get so caught up in the buzzwords about “delivering solutions” and “maximising returns” that they can forget about giving users (read: customers) something they really love to use. We’re human, and we don’t just value so-called “solutions”. Football, for instance, isn’t a “solution,” but it is hugely valued in right-thinking cultures.
After all, I can send a message to any of my contacts using email. It’s easy, and we’ve had the capability for years. But what overwhelming numbers of Facebook members testify to is that they all keep in touch a lot more closely, with many more people than ever, since Facebook came along. It makes communication a game, and is swiftly becoming that “first site of the morning” for both novice and advanced web users. For many people, the “first site of the morning” wasn’t even a website before - it was email. When was the last time a Google site was your first port of call when you logged on in the AM? (Search executives running AdWords campaigns are special cases!)
Meanwhile, there is already buzz wondering if Plaxo is the new Facebook. It just goes to show how swiftly things can change in this world, and how no company in the space can afford to rest on its laurels. For customers, that is nothing but good news, as the innovation and introduction of useful, fun products, services, and frivolous time-sucks will only increase as competition heats up. For the likes of Google, the good news may be more thin on the ground. As ever, watch this space…
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