The Battle Between Google and Facebook

A story at Wired delves into the ongoing struggle between Google and Facebook to establish their competing visions for the future of the internet. "For the last decade or so, the Web has been defined by Google's algorithms — rigorous and efficient equations that parse practically every byte of online activity to build a dispassionate atlas of the online world. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg envisions a more personalized, humanized Web, where our network of friends, colleagues, peers, and family is our primary source of information, just as it is offline. In Zuckerberg's vision, users will query this 'social graph' to find a doctor, the best camera, or someone to hire — rather than tapping the cold mathematics of a Google search. It is a complete rethinking of how we navigate the online world, one that places Facebook right at the center. In other words, right where Google is now." A related article at ReadWriteWeb suggests that while Facebook's member base is enormous, the company hasn't taken advantage of its influence as well as it should have, though the capability for it to do so still exists.

Comments

Re:Why not have both?

[sayfawa]

That's dumb. Who do you think wants a free internet more, Stallman or Microsoft? Stallman doesn't want users to be restricted on the internet anymore than with software. How is that incompatible with Google?

Re:Why not have both?

[beelsebob]

It's not incompatible with google, it's incompatible with microsoft -- stalman doesn't want you to do whatever you want, he wants you to do something that's open no matter what.