Facebook is rolling out yet another new feature this week. Community Pages aims to make static items in a user's profile -- from interests in origami to Cajun cooking to velvet paintings -- into pages populated with content and fellow aficionados.
Yes, folks have always been able to create their own pages or become fans of third-party tributes. However, having Facebook take on the opportunity to create millions of new hubs -- and dynamically linking to them from within a registered user's profile -- is as huge as it is logical.
Should Google
The three major search engines thrive on inquisitiveness. Connecting information-seekers with advertisers who can profit from the responses is the secret sauce of paid search.
Well, what happens if folks don't need to go to Google, Yahoo!, or Microsoft because they can rely on like-minded souls for answers and vetted recommendations?
Social networking has always been a threat to search engines. That's the reason AOL
Most of the ventures have proved disappointing. MySpace has grown stale, AOL may dump Bebo, and organic initiatives including Google Buzz and Yahoo! Mash have been uninspiring.
But there's only one Facebook, and it has an impressive accelerator pedal.
|
Date |
Facebook Users |
|---|---|
|
8/26/08 |
100 million |
|
1/7/09 |
150 million |
|
4/8/09 |
200 million |
|
7/15/09 |
250 million |
|
9/15/09 |
300 million |
|
12/1/09 |
350 million |
|
2/4/09 |
400 million |
Source: blog.facebook.com.
Facebook recently overtook Google in terms of this country's website traffic, according to Internet traffic analyst Hitwise. It didn't seem like a major event, because Google knows how to monetize its page views infinitely better than Facebook did. However, the stickier Facebook gets, the harder it will be for traditional search engines to woo the traffic that they can turn into leads for sponsors.
It's time to take the Facebook threat seriously.
Can Facebook really derail Google's growth? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
