Google really unleashed a torrent of news and updates today. While events such as the launch of Google Goggles are very interesting, the big news is clearly the launch of real-time search within Google. Now as events unfold, Google will capture the chatter about it in real-time from sources such as Twitter, Yahoo Answers, news media and Facebook.
The inclusion of FacebookFacebook
in this list of real-time sources is one of the most important aspects of today’s announcements, and it is something that could have major implications for Twitter and its ambitions to become the world’s water cooler. In fact, Facebook held back the opportunity to deal a heavy hit to its microblogging rival. But why?
Facebook Didn’t Treat Google and Microsoft Equally
The new integration of Facebook into Google Search doesn’t actually feed all that much Facebook information into GoogleGoogle
search results. In fact, only the updates of public Facebook pages are included in the real-time stream. Profile updates are not part of this deal.
That is a huge detail. Often the most relevant and personal information comes from Facebook profiles, not pages. Pages are primarily controlled by businesses and public figures, making their updates less raw and less personal. You won’t see a lot of companies updating their status with their feelings about the Tiger Woods scandal, but you will see a lot of profiles, even public ones, discussing breaking news about his affair.
There’s also a lot of multimedia in Facebook profiles. They don’t just include status updates, but also photo albums, video uploads and useful links. As more people turn their profiles public (something that could happen when Facebook asks users to update their privacy settings), this data will only become richer. In short, Google is limited in the data it is allowed to pull.
Two Reason Why Facebook Limited Google
You have to ask yourself: Why did Facebook limit what information it is willing to give to Google? After all, Microsoft has access to all Facebook public profiles through its search deal with Facebook for BingBing
. It’s not a technological problem, and we don’t think Google declined the inclusion of more information into its search engine.
In fact, here are two likely reasons for why Facebook limited its real-time stream to Google. First, Facebook views Google as a direct competitor and threat to its goals. As we’ve discussed previously, the two companies are quietly set to clash in a real-time search war. Not only that, but the two companies are competing to be the gateway to the Web with Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connectgoogle friend connect respectively.
The second reason Facebook didn’t give public profile data to Google is simple: Microsoft is an investor in Facebook. The Windows maker dropped $240 million into Facebook for not only a small piece of the social networking site, but for the right to preferential treatment. As a result, they have inked everything from ad deals to search partnerships. The last thing Microsoft wants is for Facebook to help out its arch rival — especially as an investor. You can bet Facebook factors Microsoft’s wishes into its decisions.
The Twitter Aspect
Facebook could have really showed off its muscle within the results of the world’s largest search engine, but chose not to. Twitter should exhale a sigh of relief.
Here’s what could have happened: Facebook makes a deal with Google that not only lets it have access to public profile data, but allows it to display the images, videos and links that are on Facebook. Rich, multimedia search results become an integral part of Google searches, revealing the limits of Twitter data and TwitterTwitter search results.
They could have really punctured and deflated the balloon on Twitter’s real-time search potential. Instead, Facebook determined that Google having access to more Facebook data was a worse option than completely clobbering Twitter in search. The social network had little choice — it couldn’t give Google the same amount of data as Facebook.
Thus for now, Twitter’s real-time search survives as one of the best places to get updates on what’s happening right now. Google’s solution is slick and filled with data, but without Facebook, it’s incomplete.
Facebook pulled its punches with Twitter this time. Don’t expect the story to be the same next time.
