Google vs Microsoft (Facebook Round)

September 26, 2007 by John Stauffer

If you read the popular blog, Techcrunch you know that last Thursday a group of fifteen “industry luminaries” took part in a highly confidential meeting at Google’s Mountain View, CA offices. According to three of those in attendance, Google plans to launch a new set of APIs in early November in an effort to give programmers the ability to cultivate all of the social graph data through gmail, Orkut (Google’s social networking site) google talk, igoogle, and every other addictive Google product.

The API rumors are likely to pull back the Google Curtain as developers begin to create third-part applications in much the same way that Facebook allows on its social networking pages.

Not be out done, Microsoft yesterday announced their intentions to buy a minority stake in Facebook, now valued at over $10 billion, in what the Wall Street Journal described as a “sign of new urgency.”

Microsoft has long been seen as being outpaced by Google’s robust advertising platform that accounted for a vast majority of its over $7.5 billion in revenue in the first two quarters of this year alone. Microsoft likely sees Facebook as an opportunity to expand its own advertising platform by tapping into the 40 billion Facebook page views per month.

Critics point out that unlike search engine advertising, where users are looking for products or services, Facebook users are more interested in connecting with other users, and thus less receptive to ads.

Though Google, too, has expressed recent interest in acquiring at least a minority stake in Facebook. And, with the recent $1.6 billion purchase of Youtube, Google’s isn’t a company known to just kick the tires. Stay tuned and keep eye on the developers’ reaction to Google’s new APIs due out during early November.

Posted in Microsoft, Facebook, Google