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Facebook’s Big Play
As I wrote about a few years back, Facebook is planning something big.
Real big.
Their plan is to replace Google and become the next AOL. Not AOL as in the lame service that nobody likes or remembers now, but the AOL that used to BE the internet for many years.
And for many people I think Facebook already is the internet. I don’t know the numbers, but I bet it’s a significant number.
The search bar on the top of Facebook is where they’re hoping everything will happen. And this is the reason Google came up with Google Plus.
Basically, Facebook has the hub. The homepage of the internet. It has the place people go to the most and base their lives out of.
But it doesn’t have search. Not search as good as Google’s anyway. So people have to leave Facebook, and that’s a problem for them.
Google on the other hand, has the search. But they don’t have a central place to stay. People find results and then leave.
So what would happen if Facebook had both?
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What if you didn’t have to leave Facebook to find what you were looking for? And not only that, but what if your search results incorporated the input from your friends and family?
That’s the context Google was trying to get with Google Plus. But it failed. Just like the last few attempts did.
Meanwhile, Facebook keeps working on search. And for them it’s all about context.
Their newest feature listens in the background and figures out what TV show you’re watching, or what music you’re listening to, when you post status updates.
Their goal is for you to never have to leave, and if they can get somewhere close to Google’s search quality, Google is going to be in serious trouble.
Watch for it.