Q: I read this week that Facebook is more popular than Google or soon will be. I don’t really see why one would be compared to another, since Facebook is a social network and Google is a search engine. Any thoughts?
A: Actually, I think about this a lot. What you have to keep in mind is that both Google and Facebook are interested in developing their business models to show greater profits.
Google has been successful doing this by selling ads in what was once a unique way. They have always associated ads with whatever a person was searching for online, trying to figure out what you want and showing you an easy way to accomplish your task. This is called contextual advertising and has worked beautifully for them.
Facebook has one major advantage over Google: Personal information can be used to target ads. Because people use their real names and share personal information on Facebook, it becomes a sort of social search engine. Usually Facebook users are searching or looking for personal updates from friends and in their search Facebook can show ads that are targeted precisely to certain characteristics or needs of the user.
Google is concerned, as you might imagine, and has promised to release its own answer to Facebook’s social pull at some point. However, they haven’t fared well in previous attempts.