At Issue: Can a Company Built for Efficiency Also Help People Waste Time?Games revenues grow
EMarketer expects Facebook to reach $1.28 billion in revenue in 2010, a tiny slice of Google's $23 billion, but with 500 million users and growing, Facebook is showing no sign of slowing down. Despite that, Google is still winning in terms of capturing user intention, if not attention. "On Google I type, 'flights to Paris,' so the ads I'm served are on my intention to fly to Paris," said Scott Hirsch, VP of business development at Get Satisfaction, a company that provides customer service to online communities. "On Facebook I type, 'I love Paris,' it doesn't mean I'm going to Paris. To match Google's value they need to figure out how to capture user intention."
The real threat of Facebook to Google is that when users are on Facebook, they have less and less reason to leave. A recent Nielsen analysis shows that nearly 23 percent of Americans spend their internet time on social networking and blogs sites with only four percent of their time spent searching. "Social networking is pretty much the opposite of why Google exists," Mr. Hirsch said. His suggestion? "Don't take me directly from here to there but show me my friend's picture or what dumb song my friend is listening to...make me waste time!"
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