Archive for June, 2010

It seems that Google recently put everything on its main homepage, except for Google Buzz. What’s up with that? They even put the PacMan game in their logo for two days running for heaven’s sake…so you would think that some of the brightest minds on the planet would have figured out by now that if Google truly wants to be the winner on the new web, they simply have to fully integrate all their programs into one homepage – or at least place Buzz right there side-by-side with the Gmail button.

Google wants to be your one-stop center on the web – as does Facebook – and Buzz has all the ingredients to finally make that happen. It could be THE place for sharing not just your conversations, but photos, videos, and everything else. Will it ever live up to its full potential, and become a true Facebook killer?

The main reason Facebook is such a serious threat to Google is not just because of the massive amount of users it has – but the amount of time those users stay on Facebook. If you look at only an Alexa comparison alone, Facebook users spend over 30 minutes on the site, which is three triple the time users stay on Google. Facebook also beats Google in pages viewed per user and bounce rate. Could all the recent changes to their SERPs be not only their answer to the upcoming marriage of Yahoo and Bing, but a strong way of presenting a real challenge to Facebook’s overwhelming statistics?

Truth be told, most web users are lazy, and they want a one-stop solution to meet all their needs. They want to connect with friends and family, they want to broadcast to the world, they want to search for something to purchase, they want to be entertained… Google could be that solution, but not until Google Buzz becomes a force.

The main problem with Google is that it has no well-defined center which users could call their own. I don’t think that most users have fully bonded with iGoogle. Putting any privacy issues aside, I don’t think they have embraced it in the same way most web users have embraced their Facebook pages. There needs to be one rallying point on Google, which seems to be a disjointed collection of undoubtedly fantastic services right now, and all the elements that are present in Google Buzz could be the answer.

For many web users, Facebook is the starting point of their web day. In many cases it’s probably the only place they go online religiously each day. Why? Because all their friends and family are there, and they don’t want to miss out on any news or gossip. In the new, evolving social etiquette, not checking your Facebook page has become the ultimate faux pas.

But before you say that no one is going defeat or compete with Facebook, not so fast! Even empires come and go; and a web site is even more fickle, especially when something more convenient comes along. Does anyone remember MySpace, which is still a very popular site, but has now assumed a completely different niche (music, entertainment) and no longer has the near the same numbers it once had. Facebook, or even Google could suffer the same fate if something better comes along.

Google’s main business has been and still is online search. It is Google’s bread and butter, which may have blinded those in charge from seeing the bigger picture. And a bigger payday.