Facebook Vs Google

Google or Facebook?
I have been using google from the time it started. I have used all its tools that come within what I do. And they made a perfect pair for me when Android was made to work on my favourite brand of smart phones - HTC. How long have I been with google products? - well I really wish I knew!

Facebook came with a bang. I finally found a website I couldn't leave even for an hour! I could play games (Mafia Wars), could link up with alot of my lost friends! It was just awesome. I could find myself browsing facebook in meetings, serminars, church or even on the bus! Me hooked maximal! No other website has ever taken me like it did! This was a life!

The interesting economics of these two web giants are my main ineterest here. We have on one hand google and on the other facebook. But who are they?

Google started in 1996 by students from Stanford - Lawrence "Larry" Page and Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin. This was merely a search engine, but its ranking proved not only effective but made sure it was not merely a search engine, but a world leader in all searches! And in 2004 when it was floated, the valuation was about $23 billion. Interestingly, the main site is the simplest i ever knew. I don't think it has changed much from the day I first pointed my browser to it!

Facebook is the young man of the two. Started in 2004 has grown at such a pace, it competes with google which started 6 years before. It was started by the now famous Mark Zuckerberg and friends from Havard University. Its a pioneer of social network success! Even some HTC phones have now a dedicated button! Thats success.

Both successful and multi-million comapnies, each claiming to be the giant in their own right. Which of these would i pick because of its sound economics presentation? And really who do I think would stand on top longer?

Who can be on top longer?
Google has been in the business longer. It has not only stuck with the core business that it started with. It has been on the offensive from the start. Once it settled in the search engine seat, it slowly too over the webmail seat where the likes of yahoo, hotmail and lycos were the main players. It never stopped there, it established its roots in IM. Now people talk about google-talk even from their private domain names. Then it attacked the mobile/ pda and smart phone operating system field which was dominated by microsoft! Again, came out with sweet results and we use Android like nothing existed before. Did it run out ideas there, no! It realized it can be a player in computer operating system too. through Chrome OS! I personally appreciated the introduction of its influency in browser world. Mostly because I didn't like the way microsoft pushed out Netscape. So any one coming to that fight, I will bring water and a towel!

On the other hand, my facebook interest has been dying over time. I really don't like the idea of privacy being eliminated and efforts to make it more and more privacy oriented have come out to help me solidify that interest. Has worked but bugs time to time makes me rethink of what i should put up on facebook. I love meeting my old mates and checking what they are up to. But some things just make me stay off some time. I have heard of people being stalked and phone numbers being taken. Really you are responsible for puting stuff online, but what does facebook have to do with it. Well, i think its the whole idea of social networking obstacles in the world of humans! We just can't be safe around them. I think facebook needs to find some screw which will make it stay forever. I know my mates who have left facebook for sone reason or the other. I know no one who has left google - just saying.

We 'google' stuff almost on an hourly basis. We can lose interest in facebook with time. But for a search engine to redefine the word 'search' on which its mere definition relies is an achievement. So for google to lose fashion, I wont be shocked, I will look at what can or has replaced it! Because to replace awesome, you have to be twice awesome!

Like someone I know said "people get tired of facebook, but we love our google, I mean people use google to find facebook".

My Choice...
So my choice for obvious economic sense, would be Google. It has stood the test of time, and promises an even bigger future. And so taking their side 'Google don't be evil' because you are here to stay!

Maybe it should be taken as a basis of defining a good business. Be in business longer, but have an even longer future. No one beats that!