Wired's Take on Google vs. Facebook

Wired's 6/22/09 piece on Google vs. Facebook lays out a telling tale of the G/F rivalry. In short, Facebook has big dreams of knocking Google down from its search tower. Their theory is that Google's top down, alogorithm based searched model misses the boat: search is about people. Facebook's massive social network brings the people to search.

Check out Facebook's Four Steps to Domination graphic. The company is clearly at level two. You should start using Facebook's Search feature to scour their own data (mostly blocked to Google) as a more personal and engaging way of getting info.

Enter Google Wave. If Wave brings the quality of its other products without forcing users to endure Facebook-like growing pains (privacy concerns, changing TOS) then Facebook may well wish that it had sold out long ago.

Last thought: my previous post talked a bit about Facebook fatigue. It's growing. Wave's arrival is well timed.

Wired: Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network's Plan to Dominate the Internet — and Keep Google Out

Google Wave: Facebook Killer or Solid Alternative?

Consider recent news from the social networking industry:
-Facebook now top social networking site in U.S. with 70.28 million users
-MySpace lays off thirty percent of its workers to become "more efficient"

I constantly challenge my students to identify the next game changer in any tech arena. When we talk about Facebook no challenger rises to the top. Instead, the conversation turns to "Facebook boredom". While this group remains in the minority more and more of my high school students are letting their Facebook pages go untended. Most have grown weary of the maintenance and Facebook's user-alienating interface changes. Just as they grew tired of only knowing someone through MySpace they are now weary of reading, and posting, status updates like, "I'm making toast."

While Gmail's user base of around 30 million is low compared to Facebook's numbers, it's safe to assume that many gmail accounts will utilize Wave initially. Any new Google product instantly benefits from a solid, existing user base. If the product is good (name Google's failures) then they will stick with it. Wave users will benefit from a product that is not about socializing but communicating. The Wave preview doesn't give an impression of a service that is focused on posting party pics or generating short status updates. The latter may be a side benefit (watch out Twitter).

Google Wave may well incorporate the social organization WIN of Facebook while putting the user, not the community, in control of the communication. Facebook users may well look to Wave to reduce the noise and take control of their online communication in a functional, real time format.

Google Wave Poll #1