Facebook Is Not Replacing Google
I’ve been hearing a bunch of talk the past few days about “Facebook Taking Over Google”….or “Facebook is the New Search Engine.”
This kind of talk is pointless.
Yes, it’s fun for fellow bloggers to discuss the advances Facebook is making in search. Let’s be clear though: the social networking giant is nowhere close to becoming a competitive search engine even to the levels of Bing or Ask.
In Jesse Stay’s blog post I linked to above…he mentions how over “50,000″ websites are now appear in Facebook’s search results. 50k sites out of how many? Well, some say 14 billion.
Even though Facebook should now be included in your SEO plan, don’t think their social success means they can take over every online industry. I don’t see Google Buzz making a run for Facebook because of a successful search biz.
That’s not how the world works. Plain and simple.
Here are some the reasons why Facebook is not even close at being a recognizable search engine:
#1 – No Search Algorithm : When Yahoo first became the “go to” site on the internet…new users began to think it was the internet. Some thought the same would happen to Facebook. Not happening. Yes, my sister gets the morning started by viewing her wall – but the majority of users don’t see Facebook as their primary online portal. I have no data or research to back this assumption up…however, Facebook is lacking in their news aggregation and media tools.
With this said, I doubt the Zuckerburg cronies are spending their time working on a robust bot to crawl the web. All current indexing is left up to mine and your efforts. Also, the information shared across the network relates to a specific focus, not a vast chronicling of the net.
#2 – Don’t Always Trust Your Friends – I understand Jesse’s point when he says” search is no longer about complex algorithms and PHD’s determining results….however, just because my friends think Robin Hood is this week’s hot movie doesn’t mean I won’t do my customary “Google” on Rotten Tomatoes. In his defense, Rotten Tomatoes may have their own Facebook page – which I would probably go to instead of leaving Facebook.
The way that Facebook will phase Google out is if they don’t keep up with the demands of accessing information in a clear manner…as I’ve mentioned before, Bing has revolutionized the term “Decision Engine”…however, they are still miles away from revolutionizing the concept.
I personally don’t think anyone has a decision engine.
The race is tight. Its still Google’s to lose.
but we stay in facebook longer than Google
Zach,
Thanks for the comment.
I do agree with you about how much time we spend on Facebook…the thing I question is: how valuable is that time? And, are we really accomplishing anything?
Of course being social in online communities is great…but will that change how we FIND information.
Your thoughts?