It’s On Like Donkey Kong
Two years ago, no one could have imagined ( except maybe the folks that run Facebook ) that they would be flipping Google the proverbial middle finger. I wrote about this as an emerging possibility a few weeks ago, suggesting that Google will begin to dwindle in influence as Facebook continues its ascent.
Over the past couple of weeks, several things have happened that have made this possibility all the more likely. First, Bing announced that they would start showing Facebook data as a part of their search results. Second, Facebook announced the new Places and Deals applications which will allow businesses to target customers in their geographic area with specific promotions. And, third, Google announced that they would be opening up the use of their Contacts data to external applications. But, more importantly, Google is denying Facebook access to this data without reciprocal access.
I am not sure Facebook cares, really. With the amount of data available on Facebook ( or even LinkedIn ) compared to a contact list, I am not sure it matters at all.
The next six months are going to be very interesting.
