Facebook: The Future of the Internet?
July 15th, 2009There can be little doubt that social networking has become a significant part of many of our everyday lives. An article last month in Wired Magazine explains that not only has the phenomenon taken hold in our personal lives, it has become a coveted aspect of the online industry with the largest internet powerhouses vying for the opportunity to take advantage of the wealth of personal information we share everyday on such sites.
Focusing on the contentious relationship between Google and Facebook, the article seems to portray an online rivalry of sorts between social networking and the algorithmic based internet search engines. In the fall of 2007, Google executives were excited by the prospect of obtaining if not all at least a stake in Facebook. According to Fred Vogelstein, author of the Wired article, Google’s leadership realized that Facebook has managed to change the online behaviors of its members. The volume and nature of personal information exchanged on Facebook is a marketing gold mine for other internet companies, including Google. While sharing personal information on the internet has become not only taboo but an outright “no no,” Facebook users not only use their real and often full names but also their real email addresses to connect with their real friends and “share their real thoughts, tastes, and news.” Whereas internet giants like Google have struggled to tap into such personal information, Facebook enjoys a unique privilege in which its users willingly provide substantial volumes of such information.
