Google goes to war with Facebook, Twitter Microsoft….etc etc etc

The World Wide Web, the information super highway, internet and blogosphere are all awaiting the declaration of war. The Invasion is due, the patent is pending … Google the dictator of the net are about to declare full scale war against anyone, who dares to take on a URL. Across the net we have many contenders for the tapping, clicking traffic that is the web user. However, which of these net contenders will prosper, which of these gladiators will go up against the lions in the arena of the world wide web. As the internet slowly becomes part of every aspect of life, who i ask will succeed in their plans for net based URL domination.

The contenders are as follows Google , Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter.

All of these companies have a varied amount of products to offer the surfer. They are in constant competition with each other, but as of yet we have seen no formal declarations of war. However, they are not opposed to the odd skirmish. Google and Microsoft are competing in the big bad real world as well as the cyber one, whilst Facebook and Twitter witter away their time online.

News, remember that? Remember what a newspaper looks like? Tabloid? Broadsheet? Well when anything happens on the net there are many ways of getting the word around. You have the news sites like ours, then personal web pages and referral sites, blogs, networks and micro-blogging. The latter 2 are easy for anyone to access and require little web knowledge to use. The first two however, need a bit more effort to be applied. News spreads by word of keyboard around the net, if you can get the social networks interested, text spreads like wild fire.

Facebook and Twitter are doing exactly this, posting and tweeting to all who have a way of viewing. Such as the net, the mobile phone, PDA, laptop, desktop, notebook, net-book, palm and tablet. I’m sure there are others. Lately we have seen Google pit wits against Facebook, the gloves are off as Google dabbles in the field of the social network. Google already have Orkut but this has not proved to be a worthy adversary against Facebook’s popularity. Facebook in turn have delved into the depth of the search engine. Both have various assets and reasons for the net addict to contribute to their traffic. My advice would be for the two to join forces not fight each other. Google have for along time been irritating those at Microsoft with the free online service that allows you to create documents in many formats with templates etc. They have a word processor, presentation maker and spreadsheets facility amongst other options. Microsoft is known for the much loved Microsoft Office which is unlike Google available offline in CD form. Although so many are turning to Google docs, one wonders if Microsoft should perhaps drop the price of their Office suite to gain more success in the doc-fight. Especially with free office programs such as Open Office approaching as well. Google have Gmail/Googlemail, Microsoft has MSN live (or hotmail) and a way of bringing it all to your desk with Outlook. Although Google Desktop has a wide collection of popular widgets / gadgets, which pose a threat to this.

Google alerts tell you when and where you have been mentioned for all those egotistical ones amongst us. Facebook tells us when we have been mentioned on Facebook. Twitter also has a range of applications for this very purpose, such as tweet back, the twitter widget, tynt insight, integration with Skype and real player amongst various other sites ad programs. Facebook is also integratable with a widget with many sites, also via access which allows Facebook to let you sign in using your Facebook profile. Twitter also has this facility. This though is the area in which Microsoft are not very in tune with. Although Microsoft have web platforms such as Silverlight and SharePoint, that throws the company straight into the workings of your site. Google we see have webmaster tools and analytics , integratable through code and so on and so forth.

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Each of these companies has their weaknesses and strengths, which seem to complement each other. Although now they want more! Facebook intends to rival Google in the search department. Many say that Facebook is more useful than Google with more applications, plus the user being able to make more to their hearts content. What they do not realise is the sheer amount of stress Facebook can induce. So many notifications requests, invitations…. some of us can only do a maximum of 30 things at once! Google are at the moment also unburdened by the danger of Facebook. As of yet we have not heard of the ‘Google killer’ or such like have we? (at least i hope not) Although if Google intends to branch out into the social side of the surf then it will have to cross that cyber bridge when it comes to it. Google have a real world advantage in the release of their first mobile phone – the Nexus 1 and are set to join with Sony in hopes of taking over your TV too! Facebook and Twitter however only have applications available to use through your phone /portable device. Microsoft’s windows OS is readily available pre-installed inside many computers – so too is Linux and Apple’s Mac. Microsoft though is the market leader in this area.

So Google’s army are attacking from all sides as well as from above and below, although they are not as experienced in certain areas as their competitors. The question is how hard will the competition fight back against the invasion of Google? What alliances will form along the way in the quest for internet domination? Will reputation prevail over service and who has the broader band?