Online Marketing Blog from metrocafe311

A social storm may be brewing between the two juggernauts of the digital world. Facebook is trying to make inroads into improving its search offering for users but are nowhere near as effective as Google and Google is trying to become more social by developing various social networks which have so far flopped. Google Wave, Buzz and Orkut are perfect examples of this.

This has supposedly led Google to rethink its social strategy. The Independent in the UK reported on Wednesday (30/06/2010) that the internet giants are planning to launch a social networking site, known for the moment as “Google Me”. This site is said to be a carbon copy of Google’s biggest rival Facebook. The internet erupted with rumours and speculation that this was the case when the founder of Digg, Kevin Rose tweeted ““Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon “Google Me,” very credible source”. See image below.

Kevin Roses Tweet 26/06/2010

Although Kevin Rose has since deleted his tweet the rumours have been confirmed by another credible source. The former Chief Technology Office (CTO) of Facebook Adam D’Angelo. According to The Independent D’Angelo is quoted as saying “This is not a rumor. This is a real project. There are a large number of people working on it.” He goes on to say; “They (Google) realized that Buzz wasn’t enough and that they need to build out a full, first-class social network. They are modeling it off of Facebook.” He finishes by saying “They had assumed that Facebook’s growth would slow as it grew, and that Facebook wouldn’t be able to have too much leverage over them, but then it just didn’t stop, and now they are really scared.”

Although Google has had its social short comings in the past this is set to be a very interesting twelve months as more about the potential offering emerges and what if anything Facebook plan to do to protect its virtual monopoly in the social space is revealed.

So it leaves only one question, do you think Google has the expertise and know how to create a social network with the potential to rival Facebook? Are we going to be telling clients to forget about Facebook because their target market is now using Google Me? As Aoife mentioned in the last post AOL lost $750 million when it sold Bebo because Facebook provided a better offering.

For the moment anyway I think Facebook are safe, Google are too scientific and technical to create a truly effective social network. Facebook have nearly 500 million users and show no sign of slowing down. Google should stick to what it does best which is provide users with a brilliant search experience, so much so that we no longer search for things we “Google” them. Let us know what you think. Would you leave Facebook for Google?