In my last blog post I introduced the current and future battle of mobile computing. The rate at which Facebook and Google come out with new ideas and applications for the virtual community is astonishing. Google has made another move against Facebook. Google’s +1 button is the answer to Facebook’s Like button. It is supposed to act as a “public stamp of approval” for any and everything that Google shows you on its site according to Google Labs. And not just that, external websites are now able to include a +1 button on their own site that allows viewers to recommend a story, ad, or whatever to everyone else. Here is a video introducing Google’s new move into social media.
And a day after the button was understood by tech junkies; somebody cracked the code and found a way to put +1 on external websites. Google hadn’t made this public yet, but they did as soon as people figured it out. It just goes to show you how quickly the public expects these new advancements in social media. In a similar fashion, internet users found holes in the New York Times innovative paywall last year and breached it within the first week of use.
Advertising money is how these two websites generate revenue. Google stepped into the social networking scene with Google Buzz in early 2010 because Facebook was taking away tons of advertisers. To date, Google has had very little success with their making their business more social. But with the launch of Google Plus in July and the +1 button in March, Google made strides in 2011 to topple Facebook and take hold of some of their users.
The reason we are seeing advertisers turn more to Facebook with the placement of their ads is because new ad platforms see quality over quantity in the form of expression is greater than impression. Facebook allows advertisers to target their audience with the use of keywords and the user’s demographics. Google has been using the impression model of advertising. Where more clicks equals more money. While Google has more unique visitors according to a Nielsen Company study, Facebook users spend 5 times as long on the site.
Marketing Charts
So there you have it. The battle rages on…on the web. The Google v. Facebook, search engine v. social network skirmish seems to be the most interesting as of now. I believe these fights between digital media companies can only mean good things for the public consumer. We get more variety of newer technologies at a rapid pace.
Random thought of the day:
A lot of people tend to confuse bad decisions with bad luck.
