The Marvelous Power of the "Like" Button

This entry is part two of my article “The Changing Landscape of the Internet.”

Last Week, a since-deleted tweet from a less-than-reliable source hinted that Google would soon be launching its own social networking site, called Google Me.  While many have tried tried this model, from Friendster to MySpace to Mebo, no one seems to come close to the power wielded by the masters of the you-niverse at Facebook. Given the latest statistics, Google has right to worry that Facebook, now the leader in daily impressions, will soon become the leaders in search. When one factors in the introduction of their Cross-Domain technology, Facebook seems poised to take over the Interweb, while playing an influential role in the evolution of the operating systems that run your hardware.

Personalization and Mobile Connectivity to Shape the Future

With the iPhone, iOs, and App Store, Apple has clearly set the pace Google must match. There is, however, one place Google is currently outpacing Apple. Believe it or not, it’s community building.  While Apple has a core group of fans, the high price of Apple’s devices will forever keep them from holding a majority of the PC marketplace.  They’ve always had a strong online community, but has surprisingly never spent much time or money on bringing their users together online.  Their website forums are excellent sources for troubleshooting and information, but it’s nothing compared to Facebook. Similarly, the iTunes store gives users the ability to create playlists, add reviews and ratings, and figure out whether a song or app is worth the money, but it isn’t really a place people go to search the web, interact with friends or make new connections.

With the growth of Google to include the Chrome browser, ChromeOS, and Android, a growing community of Microsoft users are fleeing the Redmond giant. Google is wisely trying to bring these people together with Google Me. As they delved into the social media arena with Google Buzz, they are now seeking to compete directly with Facebook.  For if Google is truly founded on giving the power to the people, it would help if they go where the people are.

Google Buzz was an interesting first step, but the initial snafus and resulting bad press helped quash any good ‘buzz’ about it.  Google was undaunted, and for good reason. Not only are they tapping into their huge communities on Gmail and (via the adoption of Android) a large number of mobile users, they also own YouTube, Picassa, Google Latitude, and Orkut, which combine to give them all the features and tools provided by Facebook. Integration of Google Documents could make Google Me a combination of Facebook, LinkedIn, Basecamp, and Microsoft Office all in one location, while the addition of Blogger could create a platform that supplants Tumblr and WordPress.com in the blogosphere. (though they are coming to this game rather late). As Blogger is also a full CMS, one wouldn’t be shocked to see Google develop a hosted website design and development platform similar to SquareSpace. Google Me would thus provide a one-stop location for people to interact with clients, work on documents, manage online profiles and websites, connect with friends, add and edit reviews, update their blog, post photos, share videos, sync devices, and of course, search the web.  The only thing I see missing from Google’s mix, is a marketplace for app, music, and other virtual goods.

Now imagine this website becoming your OS. And there you have the future of Google.

Granted, all of this is based on a (since deleted) tweet, but with Facebook overtaking Google in hits and search, we have to imagine something like this in the works. But while Google is busy starting it’s network and integrating these tools, Facebook has most of these features already in place. One wonders if it’s smart for Google to take on this behemoth, and instead focus on professional computing, rather that all this kid’s stuff.  And don’t expect Facebook to take this lying down. While they have no plans for developing an OS, they have done a great deal of development on their own website API.  As Apple is building walls, and Microsoft tearing them down, Facebook is digging its fingers into the unplowed soil of the Internet… personalized cross-website integration. It’s hard to fathom how big this is going to be. Sadly, Facebook’s poor handling of privacy issues overshadowed the launch, but not it’s truly unprecedented potential.

Control of Content During the Reign of the “Like” Button

While the privacy concerns are extremely important, it’s nothing new for Facebook.  Before we could understand what the updated terms of service say, we saw pictures of ourselves advertising dating sites with the caption “Meet Athletic Singles”.  Facebook’s cross-domain goes even further, and share your profile info across the Internet. Remember in Minority Report, when Tom Cruise walked down the corridor and was greeted with ads that knew his name and interests? This is the beginning.

What’s even scarier is how the “Like” button and user-reviews from your network will outweigh the content provided by the company or individual.  In New York City in particular, this idea already begun to show teeth, based solely on the popularity of the iPhone. Any New Yorker can tell you that every restaurant in NYC has a website, and they all use Flash.  What does this mean? When New Yorkers are looking for a good place to eat in the city, they can’t go to the restaurant website. Instead, they wind up on Google Maps, Yelp, NYMag, another third-party site, or they use an App. This takes the control of content away from the restaurants, and puts it firmly in the hands of their customers. But who is providing this content? and why should I care what “ChunkyLover53” or any other comment troll has to say?

Opinions take on more weight when they come from voices we trust. By compiling data from our personal networks, no longer will we be subject to conflicting reviews from anonymous (or sponsored) postings on a dozen different websites; instead we will be able to find relevant information culled from our close, personal, and trusted network. Combining your Facebook network with geolocation software and FourSquare will allow users to pull up a map, locate all nearby restaurants, read reviews posted by their friends, and find out if any of them are nearby and up for a bite. This is the future of Facebook, served on a mobile OS provided by Apple or Google (sorry Windows).

In the end, whichever company or platform can provide this experience in the most enjoyable manner will win the battle.  It will be incredibly interesting to watch them morph as the technology changes. Where will these companies be in 5 or 10 years? I guess we just shift the names around. Microsoft the new Apple?  Now that’d be something to blog about…