Google and FaceBook…The Gloves Are Off
Just yesterday FaceBook formally unveiled their new Question and Answer service. FaceBook’s new Question and Answer search feature is similar to Ask.com in that it allows you to enter virtually any question you can think of and be provided an answer. The Feature is in private beta testing right now. So what does this mean exactly? Well, you might not need to go to Google to find the web site address of the Cafe at the corner, or learn about pie baking tips. It’ll all be right there in FaceBook. This is huge, FaceBook (who has already taken a nice slice of Google’s Ad Revenue) is now competing directly with search engines. FaceBook recently surpassed Google in terms of visit length, now they’re aiming at being your one-stop shop for information. In FaceBook’s mind you won’t need Google, Ask, Bing, etc. All the web sites and services that funnel into those search engines will now be funneled into FaceBook (now that is assuming that those companies have Fan pages and their web sites are optimized for FaceBook’s open graph, etc).
This will surely be an interesting thing to watch, especially with the rumors of “Google Me”, the supposed upcoming FaceBook competitor.
Here’s why we think that this could a real game changer, Bing and Yahoo are merging, Microsoft owns Bing, Microsoft has a stake in FaceBook. This could potentially position Microsoft and FaceBook against Google. Wow, what a battle of Goliaths that would be. For years Microsoft has been trying to gain ground in the Web, so far, they haven’t that much of a headway. Perhaps this their moment.
Keep watching our blog for updates, we’ll keep you posted!
Happy Webbing,
Jason