Is Facebook's Social Search Engine a Google Killer?

Image by libraryman via Flickr

Its new Open Graph protocol, an extension of its Facebook Connect, is a clear challenge to Google but may not prove useful for many Web searches

When Facebook launched its Open Graph protocol in April, blanketing the Web with "like" and "recommend" buttons, it seemed obvious that one of the company's goals was to use the resulting behavioral data to power a social search engine—one based on likes instead of links.That process is now well under way, as a report at AllFacebook notes. The company has confirmed that all Web pages that use the network's open graph plug-ins show up in the social network's search results in the same way traditional Facebook pages do, as described by Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in his keynote at the F8 conference.

Facebook hasn't said exactly how many websites have implemented the Open Graph API and plug-ins since it launched the new platform (a week after the launch, it said there were 50,000), but the protocol was an extension of the company's existing Facebook Connect service, which enabled publishers to integrate features from the site into their pages, including allowing users to log in with their Facebook credentials. According to the company, more than 1 million websites—including some highly trafficked sites, such as The Huffington Post—have integrated its features, and 150 million of the network's more than 400 million users "engage with Facebook" in some way through external sites every month. So will Facebook's social search engine be a Google (GOOG) killer?

Warning Shot

The network's move to harness the power of its Open Graph protocol is clearly a shot across Google's bow, but it's not clear whether the power of the "like" is equivalent to or greater than the power of the link. As Liz noted in a GigaOM Pro report (subscription required), knowing what our friends or Facebook users in general have recommended is useful in some cases—when looking for a hotel or restaurant, for example—but might be less useful in other cases.There's no question, however, that the Open Graph data Facebook is collecting could become a real alternative to a simple Google search for some users. Being able to search for recommendations from close to half a billion users could be quite powerful.

Meanwhile, the search giant hasn't made much progress in incorporating social elements into its own search engine, apart from integrating Twitter results—although since Facebook's Open Graph protocol is theoretically an open standard, there is potential for Google to use that to pull in the network's results in the same way it uses Twitter's API.Microsoft's Bing will likely have a leg up in that department, however, because it runs the Facebook search engine, under the terms of a deal signed in 2008.Facebook search grew 48 percent in March over the previous month, according to comScore rankings. That gave the network a relatively puny 2.7 percent share of the U.S. search business, but still put it ahead of AOL (AOL).

By Mathew Ingram

Google Friend Connect Now Open To All Websites

by Erick Schonfeld on December 4, 2008

Update: Facebook just opened up FB Connect as well in a self-serve fashion. It’s mano-a-mano.

The battle over who will control access to your online identity is heating up. In the wake of more and more partners finally starting to take a shine to Facebook’s competing FB Connect (which we just implemented on Techcrunch), Google’s Friend Connect is now in an open beta. Before it was in a limited preview release, but now any website can add Google Friend Connect as a login option.

Google Friend Connect is OpenSocial’s answer to Facebook Connect. It lets other websites accept a member’s OpenSocial username and password to log into their sites. More importantly, it also lets websites access users’ social data, which includes friend lists, profile information, feed messages, reviews, ratings and the like.

Since it is based on OpenID, visitors to a Website that adds Friend Connect code will be able to sign in using their Google, Yahoo, AIM, or OpenID usernames and passwords. The Websites will also be able to add any OpenSocial apps developed by third parties. And it supports the OAuth data portability standard.

When you drill down into the technical details, there are some differences between Friend Connect and FB Connect. But ultimately, what is at stake here is what will become the identity and data portability standard on the Web, and who will control it. While Friend Connect is taking a more open-standards approach, Facebook has the users and the momentum. Who are you betting on?

Facebook moves closer to conquering the web

Image by via CrunchBase

The data portability wars may now be in full swing, and Facebook has taken an early lead with the launch of Facebook Connect, a service that lets users log onto other websites through Facebook and view their friends' activities on those sites.
Some of the third-party websites partnering with the social network include Digg, Twitter, Citisearch and CBS, with the Discovery Channel, San Francisco Chronicle, Hulu and the genealogy network Geni expected to join soon, according to The New York Times.
There is no financial agreement between Facebook and the websites using Facebook Connect, with the only benefit being increased traffic. There are currently no plans to explore advertising potential with Connect, but of course Facebook will now have even more information about which websites its users visit, creating the possibility for better-targeted ads.
The launch of Facebook Connect is the latest chapter in the growing war between Facebook, Google and MySpace as all three companies vie to become a digital hub of sorts, where users update and manage their profiles and information across the web. 
All three web giants announced their initiatives in May, and Facebook fired the first shot in the war shortly after when it said it would not participate in Google's Friend Connect because of privacy concerns. MySpace, meanwhile, is working closely with Google to make sure its services are compatible.
The battle for third-party partners is intense as well. When MySpace announced its own data portability project, it named Twitter as a partner. But according to TechCrunch, the micro-blogging service will actually integrate with Facebook first.
Facebook has also taken the utmost caution in launching Connect, largely because of the criticism it received for its Beacon program a year ago. This time around, the social network put its users' privacy at the forefront.
"We want to make the experience as lightweight and easy to use as possible," said Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg. "But we also have to make sure that people understand what�s going on and have control over it."

By Rich Cherecwich

Facebook Trying To Acquire Twitter Is Setup For Failure

By Brian Solis - Mon, 11/24/2008 - 2:53pm.





Kara Swisher has written a tremendous post on Facebook's quiet attempt at acquiring Twitter. It inspired me to share my thoughts on the subject.
During the Web 2.0 Summit, John Batelle interviewed Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, and if you listened closely enough, it was clear that Batelle was prodding Zuckerberg to validate the rumors that Facebook was exploring the possibility of acquiring Twitter.
With a teasing smile, Zuckerberg described Twitter an “elegant model” and professed that he was “ impressed by what they’ve done.”
Following the session, attendees poured into the hallways dissecting the dialogue to support or discount the prospect of such a bold acquisition.
Kara Swisher has confirmed the rumors, however, an acquisition is not imminent - at least not yet.
For the record, I had heard the rumors and was pretty confident that the discussions were taking place. What I couldn't fathom was how Facebook would leverage Twitter's unique model and culture as its community is radically more liberal and protective than that of Facebook. And, with Facebook Connect looming, it seems that Twitter, which is already appearing as an opt-in service in the Facebook News Feed, is only one of the many distributed communities that can collectively position Facebook as your central dashboard for managing the relationships that define your social graph and the information, content, and insight that defines, strengthens, and elevates it.

Mark Zuckerberg at F8 announcing Facebook Connect
For those who aren't yet familiar with Facebook Connect, it is a technical bridge that links your Facebook profile with other online identities and associated activity back to Facebook. It enables seamless integration between Web sites, pages, communities, and networks and the Facebook identity system. For example, if you’re commenting on a blog hosted on the Moveable Type platform, you can now login with your Facebook details and not only will your comment and link to your Facebook profile appear on the blog, the activity of commenting is also linked back into your activity feed for your friends and colleagues to see. Digg will also allow Diggers to log on using their centralized Facebook ID and for each story they digg, the activity is documented back on their profile. Facebook Connect partners already number in the hundreds.
Did I mention that Twitter is one of the original Facebook Connect partners?

Twitter has grown by over 600% in one year. From a business perspective, I can understand why Facebook would consider engaging in negotiations. Twitter is currently reporting six million registered users and last month, the micro community experienced its greatest traffic to date - bolstered by the 2008 Election.
The deal was close to finalization, but (thankfully) fell apart for very valid reasons.
According to Kara Swisher's post, Facebook was attempting to acquire Twitter for $500 million in a pure stock deal based on Facebook's heavily disputed $15 billion valuation. Analysts peg the true estimate of Facebook's market value closer to $5 billion, which would have positioned Twitter's sale price at roughly $150 million - a number that investors, the board, and the company's founders believe is far too low. Just for the record, Twitter's investments total ~$20 million with a valuation of $98 million.
Twitter preferred a cash deal, perhaps with stock, and that's understandable in this market. And there's a pervasive sentiment that the company might just have a successful run at generating revenue while continuing to grow the community and redefine how its users communicate with each other in the process.
From Facebook's perspective, the stock offer was a conservative approach that reflects the business state of Twitter. The company is not only generating $0 revenue, but its basically a substantial cost centert. Among salaries and other expenses with innovating and managing the service, Twitter pays for SMS fees associated with each text-based update. Facebook estimates that this could cost the company upwards of $75 million annually if Twitter was rolled out to its 120 million users.

While this deal might equal a Fail Whale for the moment, it potentially could have equated to a Fail Whale had it closed. I'm not privy to the integration strategies the companies discussed had the acquisition completed, but I can attest to the Twitter pushback that would have immediately surmounted. In simply tweeting Kara's post this morning, I was confronted with an overwhelming sense of relief that the deal fell apart. This isn't to say that Facebook won't eventually acquire Twitter or perhaps one of its eco-dependent services that also enhance and centralize the distributed micromedia experience, something like FriendFeed perhaps.
When Facebook Connect rolls out Web-wide, the terms of any acquisition discussion will dramatically change as personal Facebook News Feeds will only increase in value as they connect disparate services from across the web, your updates and the updates of your friends, to a centralized social dashboard.