who am I?
The ever burning question for web companies nowadays is who am I? Their identities are either fully integrated services or specific niche areas who can concentrate on one particular area of the web. And whilst most are moving to a shift of “let’s hit as many markets as we can” I find it interesting to read that Google may be worried about Facebook. A recent statistic has shown that more people spend time on the Social media giant than the search pioneers.
So let’s think about this for a moment.
It would be similar to a plumber worrying that the local electrician is going to start taking business. They are after all in the same line of work – home repair and installation, but both have a specific set of skills to focus on. (Both are web agencies, both have email capabilities, both have calendar functions, but the similarity stops there).
Yes, whilst it is true that Google’s reach is far greater with it’s range of products and future vision (something they showed their hand at earlier this week with live search) they are not going to be able to compete with the collosus of social media that Facebook has positioned itself to be.
So, Google, before you start panicking too much just think, who am I? You are the search engine pioneer, the guys that turned their hand to mail, calendars and even Video very successfully. You provide a service that Bing and Yahoo are competing with on a daily basis for market share, and you are now terrifying Steve Jobs with your Open Source mobile platform and Bill Gates with your free office software.
Should you be worried about Facebook? No, not unless they start doing everything you have built your company to do on the same playing field.
