Facebook vs Google?

The bees that buzz are buzzing about Facebook taking over the Internet, and knocking down Google and destroying our happy existence. Silly bees.

Let's do a pot analysis.

I'm 23 years old. Female. Single. I spend approximately 12 hours a day online. I live in a city away from home, and most of my closest friends are in another city. I do not suffer from any psychological disturbance other than regular attacks of stupidity and moronness.

That makes me a strong target audience for any social networking site, right?

Right.

I have accounts with Orkut, and Facebook. I've uploaded photos, and videos, and joined groups, and poked, and thrown food at my friends, and scrapped, read my fortune cookie. But, after an initial burst of frenzied Orkutting or Facebooking, time spent on either Facebook or Orkut has dwindled to about 10 minutes a week.

I maybe an isolated case (though I doubt it), but social networks are getting to be more spammy, containing more viruses, and more risk of abuse that before, and that's certainly a huge drawback. I definitely have better things to do online that be hassled (and hassle others) by all that.

OpenSocial is cool, and developing apps is neat, but how many 'Who Kissed the Frog?'quizzes on Facebook are you going to take, or how kicked are you really going to be to find out your 'Hotness Quotient' and how many times? Especially when your other options of spending time only might be more informative or worthwhile. I personally don't have much time to waste on either Orkut or Facebook. But ---

I'm not going to be prissy. I'm going to put myself in the shoes of Facebook, and see why they're so excited.

Hmm. Nice view. Social Networking sites, and well, Facebook being the uncrowned Queen of 'em all, certainly has lots to be excited about. A huge proportion of page views across the world, are on Social Networking Sites. And almost anyone who's new to the Internet (especially true for countries where the Internet is just beginning to grow roots) will start off using Social Networking. Fairly huge plus point (to build loyalties?).

Facebook is also encouraging a lot of innovativeness, which has been mainly associated with Google all these years, and it is definitely at a good place with its Open Platform - their best card on the table.

So to wrap up, I'd say Facebook is exciting and all that jazz, and sure they'll sell ads, and sure they'll make money. But, if you ask me if Facebook is a huge threat to Google, I can only snort a magnificent snort in the style of Gimli the Dwarf. That should suffice.