Last week, at Facebook’s annual F8 conference in California, Facebook released a new model for Open Graph, new functionality which hopes to open more of its user activity to other sites, and may offer the ability to put recommendation or “buttons” on pieces of content across the web. With Facebook creating a “smarter Internet” and a more personalized web experience, there has been a lot of buzz about how Facebook could overtake Google. Indeed last month, Facebook took a larger share of total US Internet visits than Google for the first time. How does this bode for Google?
Facebook is making the web a more personal experience in ways that allow them to continue growing subscribers up to an incredible 400 million in 2009 from just 200 million in 2008. Being more closely tied-in to users in a personal way that Google is not gives Facebook much more information about users. Information is a powerful thing. With it, expands Facebook’s opportunities for target marketing – it’s already on their radar. The information available to Google for targeting ads through AdSense pales in comparison to the information Facebook has and will have …and the Facebook audience is bigger. If Open Graph moves forward, Facebook will be able to collect information from their users from partner websites like CNN.com and IMDb – a win-win for everyone …except Google.
Google has competed successfully with Facebook in many areas, excluding social media. Google Buzz has not been as successful as Facebook which has left the door open for Facebook to gain more users and loyalty. Could Facebook eventually take over? While both companies are innovative, Facebook has been the leader in rethinking the web experience. Can Google be the true innovator that they once were or is this the end of Google and the beginning of Facebook? One thing is for certain, it’s going to be an interesting battle that either way, the user is likely to win.
