Facebook Blocks Google+ App, Google Removes Twitter From Real Time Search

An anonymous reader writes "Facebook has blocked access to Friend Exporter, a Google Chrome application that helps users import their Facebook contacts into Google's new social network — Google Plus. " Meanwhile, reader dkd903 points out that Google has been busy removing Twitter from real time search, due to a contract expiry with Twitter."

Comments

Alas.

[Vegemeister]

Begun, the Corp War has.

This was expected

[slackzilly]

Move on

And the consumer is in the middle.

[LWATCDR]

Facebook is really annoying because my friends are well my friends. My pictures and so on.
Twitter is and Google I hope will fix this. Twitter is just an odd thing. How do they make money without destroying Twitter? Also I am shocked how few people use Twitter and yet at the same time how important it has become.

Re:And the consumer is in the middle.

[Missing.Matter]

Didn't you read the TOS? Your friends are now Facebook's friends. Your pictures and memories.... all belong to Facebook. I believe there was something about your soul in there as well...

Re:And the consumer is in the middle.

[Bieeanda]

Nah. They made a play for people's souls, but millions Liked the 'plz dont take my soul FB' group page and they backed off. Everyone expects them to try it again sometime soon, though.

Re:And the consumer is in the middle.

[Lazy Jones]

Twitter is and Google I hope will fix this.

Last time I checked, Google was a big corporation determined to increase its revenue by all possible means, just like Facebook. If they have turned into a charity recently, I must have missed it.

Re:And the consumer is in the middle.

[TheRaven64]

Your pictures and memories.... all belong to Facebook

No they don't. Facebook just has a sublicenseable, transferable, license to them that they can sell to any interested parties. You still nominally own them. For extra fun, if you upload any pictures to Facebook that you don't own the copyright for, you just indemnified Facebook if they are sued for selling them when they don't actually have a valid license to do so.

How Microsoft of Them

[causality]

"Facebook has blocked access to Friend Exporter, a Google Chrome application that helps users import their Facebook contacts into Google's new social network — Google Plus. "

Clearly Facebook is afraid to compete on the merits of its services. Isn't that the message whenever any sort of vendorlock is implemented?

I never before took Google's social network very seriously. Now that Facebook is showing fear of them, and acting so childish about it, I'm willing to reconsider that. To anyone with some sense, Facebook is providing a more stunning endorsement of Google's services than Google itself could have ever created.

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[inasity_rules]

I second that. Also the clever marketing ploy where google plus tells me they've got no further capacity right now... Check back later....

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[Bloodwine77]

If Google+ is to succeed, they need to stop with the invite-only nonsense. A social network is only as strong as its user-base, and Google+ remains questionable until it has enough people on it to make it worthwhile.

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[inasity_rules]

To be fair, they're "still testing." A bit like how gmail was in the early days...

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[segedunum]

Facebook was effectively invite only for a while until anyone over 13 could join up and that only seemed to increase the excitement. You want to be a part of what you can't have.

If I was Facebook I would be worried. Zuckerberg merely came up with a few chance ideas that made social networks......social. Relationship status and all that. Apart from that it's merely a fairly clean looking, unspectacular PHP application. Facebook's lead as the premier social networking site is everything. If they have to start competing on technology then the future doesn't look bright.

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[beuges]

Except that you can test an email platform with a limited amount of users, because those users can still email others outside of your platform, due to the way email works.

I've had a google+ profile for almost a week, and I haven't bothered logging in after the first day, because none of my friends are on it and I can't invite them either. It's a social network that doesn't allow you to network with your social circle.

When I mentioned that I had a google+ account, at least a dozen of my friends asked me to invite them, and I couldn't. They'll probably lose interest waiting for an invite, just as I've lost interest waiting to have more friends to interact with.

How exactly am I supposed to help them test their platform if I can't use it?

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[WelshRarebit]

Yup, if they had opened it up immediately and there were any bugs, these same folks would be here bitching and moaning that they should have tested it first.

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[Zenaku]

Facebook started out by being only available to students attending a few select schools, but I don't think that is "effectively invite only." The difference is that when one is a full-time student at a university, the vast majority of your friends and acquaintances are also students at that university. It wasn't open to the public, but for those it was open to, it was also open to a great many of the people they would want to interact with.

With Google+ the sample of people you could network with is essentially random. I would like to try it, but I haven't scored an invite, and even if I did -- I only know one other person who has been able to try it.

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[Xest]

It all wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that Facebook built up it's userbase around taking information from things like MSN, your e-mail contacts and so forth.

Worse, I've had a Facebook recommendation from Facebook for someone I've only ever spoken to via MSN and have no real life friend connections, and both of us are tech savvy such that neither of us let Facebook import friends from Outlook, MSN etc. and we both live at opposite ends of the country and have never met IRL so I'm still to this day a little perplexed as to how the hell Facebook made that link. It kind of implies that Facebook has had access to MSN data even when explicit permission wasn't given.

In this respect it's sheer hypocrisy, I mean what the hell is wrong with them? It's fine for them to build their business off the back of others, but not for someone else to do the same with them?

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[AvitarX]

That's how facebook took off too.

It started with less annoying people than myspace (being university only), then opened to the public, but the fact that social network whores were already invested in myspace slowed the pace of facebook becoming annoying.

What do I know though, I thought buzz was alright, and it's automatic stuff was painfully clear and explained to me.

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[Nemyst]

I've invited my friends just fine. You just need to share something with them, at which point they'll get an email with info and a link to join Google+.

Re:How Microsoft of Them

[redemtionboy]

Because Facebook launched nationwide to everyone at once and didn't do something like slowly expand from school to school and then eventually to the general public....oh wait.

People are Facebook's product, not their customers

[Bloodwine77]

If there was any doubt as to how Facebook thinks of its users, this should drive home the fact that people are Facebook's product. It is only free if you don't value your information.

Thank you Facebook

[JanneM]

You just gave me another reason to go with Google+ and ignoring you.

Re:Thank you Facebook

[arth1]

You just gave me another reason to go with Google+ and ignoring you.

I see a reason to avoid both empires.
Yes, despite common belief, you can have an active online life without Facebook and Google.

(I switched my search provider from Google last week. After the latest "improvements", almost all search results I get are from Chinese wholesale companies and Indian ad-sponsored keyword re-bloggers, of which there appears to be millions. I.e. Google has become far less useful.)

So

[hjf]

When does the antitrust trial begin? It's like Microsoft all over again. Facebook abuses its dominant position on the internet (facebook forms in almost every "web 2.0" website, just like IE was "so tightly integrated in windows that it couldn't be removed"). And now they're also trying to destroy competition by blocking them.

In comparison, with IE you can at least download another browser. Facebook won't help you in your transition (or let you delete your stuff from their servers).

Come on, guys... you hated MS for much less than this.

Re:So

[Lunix Nutcase]

And you also think Google should face antitrust trial for blocking Facebook from getting Gmail contacts, right?

Re:So

[hjf]

No, I'm not an idiot, thanks for asking, mr AC.
Microsoft got sued because they included a Web browser. Just like Apple does, and some butthurt competition decided that was bad, and sued them. Really stupid to me. But it seems that's the law. So I wonder, why no one is suing Apple for including their own browser AND bundling it with Windows iTunes (installing it without your permission). The same with QuickTime - which I don't want or need.

ha ha, 'friends'

[roman_mir]

"Being friends" through these sites is sort of like 'having sex' with blow up dolls, but worse, because you actually own the dolls and can do whatever.

On the other hand nobody who uses these sites pays them anythings, so maybe it's not like 'having sex' with blow up dolls.

Or maybe it is, I am not sure anymore. How many libraries of congress can fit in one's 'friends list' on a site like that exactly?

Re:People are Facebook's product, not their custom

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

Fortunately for Facebook, ~500 million people don't value their information.

Re:People are Facebook's product, not their custom

[sakdoctor]

Why does this SHITE always get posted?
For a dating site, would you say the women are the product, and the men are the customers?
No, they are both customers, just not equal due to the pricing structure.

Facebook is structured like any agency, with two products, facing two different sets of customers.

Curious

[benjfowler]

Facebook count on the social network being 'sticky' enough to retain their users and make it hard to move. Obviously, with competitors which don't suck, they need to play dirty.

I was keen to see if their backup feature exported email addresses. Sure enough, it doesn't. So there goes my idea of writing a script to extract my contacts out of Facebook backups suitable for import into Google+.

About the only way this state of affairs will change, is if the bad publicity gets bad enough for Facebook to be shamed into doing the right thing.

Smart move by Facebook -- pissing off their hardcore techie users. Very classy.

Re:Removed from "real time" search

[Lazy Jones]

Are there any useful alternatives?

Not at this time I suppose, but I wish projects like YaCy would make some progress / gain more attention.

Fortunately redirecting through Yahoo still works.

[morgosmaci]

Just sign into yahoo using your facebook account and it will even create a throw away yahoo acount for you and import all of your facebook friends as contacts. Then just export those contacts into a vcf and import them into a contact group in gmail. (Or import them directly into G+).

Re:People are Facebook's product, not their custom

[betterunixthanunix]

That might not matter quite as much as you think. Do you only have nonsense conversations with your contacts on Facebook? Do people only post nonsense messages on your "wall?" Do you only click on random links? Facebook collects a lot more information than what you overtly give them.

Storm computing

[Errol backfiring]

Is when cloud computing is done by thunderclouds - battling each other!

Re:People are Facebook's product, not their custom

[Abstrackt]

For a dating site, would you say the women are the product, and the men are the customers?
No, they are both customers, just not equal due to the pricing structure.

You picked a bad analogy; you're both a product and a customer on a dating site. You (customer) browse the selection of men/women (product) available and they (customer) do the same to you (product).

Re:People are Facebook's product, not their custom

[TRACK-YOUR-POSITION]

I'm not sure what Facebook considers helpful, but from a statistical perspective a semi-unique joke-response probably reveals more than an ubiquitous sincere response. Take two people who list Christian on their profile, and take two people who list Pastafarian (you aren't the only one). I suspect that the latter pair has more in common than the former pair.

Re:Turnaround is fair play

[makomk]

They blocked Facebook from accessing GMail contacts directly because Facebook wouldn't allow them to import Facebook contacts directly. You can still download your entire GMail contacts list yourself in a multitude of formats and do whatever you like with them, including importing them into Facebook if you really want to, whereas this news article is about Facebook blocking their own users from doing the same kind of mass-export.

Woohoo! Down with Twitter

[Compaqt]

Finally, Identica can pick up some steam!

(The geeks' version of Twitter, if you don't already know.)

If a brick and mortar business tried this

[Frankie70]

Once you post that, they'll all get an email telling them about google+. google are leaving the signup door open for hours on and hours off each day, it seems, so tell them to keep trying - I do it in the status update.

Can you imagine inviting your friends to a bar saying - it remains open for many hours on & many hours off each day. Keep coming there & checking it out again & again to see if it's open.

Re:People are Facebook's product, not their custom

[TheRaven64]

In my experience, most of these people just didn't read the ToS. When people ask me why I'm not on Facebook, I quote a few of the rights that you grant to Facebook for anything that you upload. The universal reaction has been shock, usually followed by 'is that legal?'.

Re:Fortunately redirecting through Yahoo still wor

[MikeDaSpike]

You're probably using a facebook blocking application/extension. I had to disable Facebook Disconnect before the icon appeared.