

Google To "Out Open" Facebook On November 5 - brett
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/21/google-to-out-open-facebook-on-november-5/

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nickb
I _hope_ this is true! This would be a great thing and everyone's social maps
would finally be free!

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Kaizyn
How much can we trust a Google-driven 'open' social networking platform? They
did purchase doubleclick after all. While these social networks are
interesting projects, I don't think it's a good idea to allow a single company
like Google to run the underlying network and maintain the user information.
Certainly such a "platform" is not stable in the long term for building
startups on if for no other reason than the social graph owner(s) can shut you
and your applications out on a whim.

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rms
Give me a scenario in which it is in Google's interest to shut down their
social networking API overnight without warning. Just because they can doesn't
mean they will.

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jsmcgd
I'm personally not to phased by this announcement. I don't think Facebook's
real strength is its API but its core functionality. So any attempts to
outperform them on this issue is commendable but I don't think it will bother
Facebook that much.

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bharath
This could be good news for India-focused Web 2.0 startups given the Orkut
demographic.

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amichail
I wonder how close it will be to this?

[http://mindrosity.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-google-could-
beat...](http://mindrosity.blogspot.com/2007/09/how-google-could-beat-
facebook-at-its.html)

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rainsill
What about privacy? [http://fishtrain.com/2007/09/28/what-happens-when-a-
social-g...](http://fishtrain.com/2007/09/28/what-happens-when-a-social-graph-
is-compromised/)

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Zak
It's about time _somebody_ did that. I thought it might make a good startup,
but couldn't think of any way to get random social networking services to sign
on.

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amichail
The Facebook platform makes it possible for one person to build an interesting
app in a week or two. Google will need to match this to be competitive.

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AF
It is the internet. You can build an interesting app even faster without
touching Facebook's platform at all.

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axod
And make a lot more money

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breck
Facebook needs to find their adsense. Fast.

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axod
Not gonna happen IMHO. Facebook is about interacting with other people. Not
about clicking on adverts.

Google on the other hand is about finding stuff, which can sometimes be
achieved by clicking on an ad.

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breck
you're right. i'm sorry i should have been more clear. i was using adsense as
an analogy. facebook needs to find its business model X, as google found
adsense.

facebook definitely has a potential X that could be as profitable (or moreso)
than adsense. but what that is i don't know. i'm sure they do though.

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axod
ah ok sure. Perhaps it's some sort of dating/matchmaking system. I can see
that working, although that's a pretty crowded market already.

