Social networking gets aggressive….

The battle lines are drawn between two superpowers. Forces are arrayed on both sides and the peacemakers are trying their utmost to find solutions before small border skirmishes escalate into all out conflict. This could be a scene anywhere in the Middle East currently, and indeed some would argue that it is, but it is also a scene being played out in corporate America, and more importantly, on the internet. The growth of social networking has been spectacular. We have all seen dotcom bubbles grow and burst, but this looks like that rarest of beasts, a genuine long term phenomenon. Facebook has generated enormous revenues for its developers, and has taken a stranglehold on the online social marketplace. It has already seen of one rival, Myspace having been relegated to the status of a third world charity case desperately trying to find a niche to cling to, but as with any growth market with an obvious way of making serious money, there is a very strong desire for others players to enter the game.

The latest player to enter looks to be a very serious contender indeed, and for the first time it appears that Facebook is actually worried. This new player is a battle hardened veteran of many internet skirmishes, and has been successful in their own arena against some very big players already, and now they have Facebook firmly in their sights. This warrior of the internet is non other than the King of the search engines, Google. Having already largely won the war for search engine use, and expanded into the marketplace for browser dominance with Google Chrome, one of the fastest growing browsers in the World, they are now currently in beta testing of the latest Google offering, Google Plus. Targeted squarely at facebook as Googles own social networking site, and looking to offer the best of facebook with none of the downsides it looks an interesting proposition.

We already know that Google have the technical skills and certainly the resources to make a serious bid for at least a fair fight in this marketplace, and it does rather beg the question, is there room for two major players in this arena? To the casual observer, and indeed to the casual user, I would guess that there is little to this question beyond what is best for me as an individual user, and who are most of my friends using? However, it can be argued that there is something more to this than might first appear to be the case. There is a reason for the military allusion beyond its function as narrative. Over the last 12 months there has been increasing use od social sites, particularly Facebook and Twitter to disseminate information from war-zones, highlighting the plight of ordinary people in these areas. Both Facebook and Twitter have tended to keep communication lines open and allowed the majority of posts from these regions. By contrast there is some evidence that Google has made agreements with the Chinese government to surpress news stories that ran counter to the party line, and to limit access to human rights internet content. It will be interesting to see if this makes a difference as we move forward….