Google has been writing a lot of checks gobbling up a lot of other companies over the past 12 months.
Click here to see the chart. It's quite impressive and colorful.
Is Facebook next? We're seeing some disturbing signs that a Google acquisition might be well underway but then we need to be prepared for what comes next.
Dead air. Meaning Google can pull the plus and absorb it (Google BORG)
Or Google banishes Facebook ads and inserts Google Ads, instead.
Which one do you think is more likely to happen?
Google has viewed Facebook as public enemy #1 in their eyes for one reason. Facebook sucks time. Google products streamline what we do. Everything from Google search, Google docs, Google Gmail and more. We're in. We're out. We're on our way. It's clean, simple and oh so very elegant.
Facebook is taking away millions of eyeballs from Google. Google searches are fast. You get what you want and you leave.
Facebook is where people go to waste time.
And now thanks to Facebook Places, their entry into GPS check in networks will further erode Google's plans for the future. Next is gaming, where Americans spend 407 million hours a month -- but I'll get to that in a minute.
Google has no problem breaking out a check book and stroking a few zero's on it to buy nearly any firm they want. So for Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg... the question is just how many zero's needs to be on that check remains to be seen.
And once Google writes the check... this becomes another Stark Trek episode because like the BORG... Google will absorb them and add them to the Google Collective.
Google's entry into Social Media has been nothing more than one train wreck after another.
They tried Google BUZZ and people revolted. Everyone cried "foul" as nobody wanted to view introductions to new people and see short clips of blogging in their Gmail. People wanted Gmail to stay clean, elegant and simple. BUZZ was box office poison and Google quickly back peddled and made fast changes.
Google WAVE -- the much touted improved TO DO list was nothing more than a cheap carbon copy of Apple's defunct CyberDog technology from the 1990's plus a nice mash up of Backpackit's Action List is now on life support systems. Google announced it will no longer support Google Wave at the end of this year. So, in December, we can all wave "farewell," to Google Wave.
Google essentially buys companies that USED to charge for their service. Then Google gives it away for free. Why? So you'll start drinking the (free) Google Kool-Aid.
GrandCentral Acquisition. July 2007
Google buys them out for $45 million dollars. It was a way cool voicemail system that lets people record voice mails and you get the MP3 voice mail attached to your email. How friggin cool is that? Well, they spent $45 million and today... three years later you get Google Voice for free.
Why does Google do this? Why would any firm spend $45 million on cool technology then give it away for FREE?
BECAUSE they want you to keep drinking the Google Kool-Aid. Getting you to come to Google means they can sell ads to other firms and you see them -- you click on them and you might buy their stuff or services.
This model was working great for a while. Now there's trouble up ahead. Facebook is stealing eyeballs away from Google. Keep reading...
reCAPTCHA. September 2009.
Google's reCAPTCHA technology is free and lets you add that random number to your website forms. So now you don't get robots sending you offers for Viagra anymore. You get only real people as this screens out 99.9999999999% of SPAM bots.
AdMob. November 2009. $750 million
What is AdMob? It's DoubleClick.com but for Mobile platforms. Imagine that. A bunch of idiots trying to figure out ways to cram an ad into your tiny little 4-inch cell phone screen when you go surfing Google for things. Banner ads and interruption marketing will be the rage and a huge pile of money for firms like these.
Aardvark. February 2010. $50 million What is Aadvark? It's a new kind of search engine that connects your search to "real people." Imagine that. Why? What if Amazon had a LIVE customer service person. or eBay. Would you call them? I rest my case. In a world now connected by more computers than there are people on this planet... the ability for you to search for something and ask a LIVE Warm Body about what to do, where to go and ask for more research or details... Google bet $50 million dollars on Aardvark and thinks the idea will fly. The Bartman thinks it's a great idea too. Our tiny firm consults with a lot of agents and brokers and because we answer our own phones -- we get a lot of new business every quarter. Like.com. August 2010. $100 million. Did you LIKE that car that just drove by? Did you LIKE that sport jacket that woman was wearing? Well visual based shopping is going to be the future so says Google. A test was done in December 2009 by Forbes Magazine on Software in the future -- 2020. It had a sneak peak at how computers will be so blended into daily human society that just walking down a busy New York street can also treat you with a cool shopping experience. How? You take your iPhone or Droid and snap a photo of the woman walking by wearing that great looking coat. Your snap your photo and send this to your shopping basket and let your Google eCart find that same coat and give you five options at a store nearest your (GPS) location so you can buy it.
So... What happens if Google buys Facebook out?
It's too early to tell what will take place next.
But it's not hard to see Google's track record of past acquisitions . They absorb the firm, they break it up and then they give away parts of it for free but now branded under Google. In the exception of YouTube.com and a handful of others -- Google kept the same name.
But it's clear that Google sees Facebook as a real threat. And because so many people like to "waste time and screw off," on-line now -- they can't really waste time on Google. You can with Facebook. And gaming is driving this whole, "waste time online," market.
Nielsen has reported Americans love wasting time so much that we spend 906 million hours inside of social media networks essentially doing nothing productive. Gaming. Chatting about the weather. What you had for breakfast.
Compare that to the puny 138 million hours a month spent Searching (the search engines) and you start to realize why Google is green with envy, or simply pissed off their balance sheet and profit & loss statement is starting to erode.
Last week -- Google extended private invitations to a handful of "gaming experts," which was put together by Google's AdWords gaming guru, Kevin Sung.
What was most interesting isn't what was made public about last week's Think series -- it was the quiet whispers in the hallway between sessions. And the very tight lipped rumor that Google is considering writing a big fat check to wipe out the name for their pain: Facebook.
Facebook's gaming revenues is anticipated to reach 1.2 billion according to a recent report by eMarketer. Is this a lot of money when compared to Google? Not really. Google made $23 billion last year and will most likely top well over $33 billion by the end of 2010.
Why the huge interest in gaming by Google? Because online games are well... online. And this keeps eyeballs coming back for more. What might surprise you is that Google has silently made a large investment of $100 million into Zynga -- a firm that provides the social gaming engine which is at the heart of hit games like Mafia Wars and Farmville.
So does this mean that Google will pulling some strings at these firms for perhaps a Google like gaming experience on-line? It's hard to tell. But all the signs are pointing to some eyebrow raising possibilities. Does Google make their own Social network (GoogleMe) or do they shut down Facebook and break it up into pieces that serve the Google (BORG) Collective?
Once people connect to Facebook... they really don't have any reason to leave. We log in and hang out and wait for Sandra to come on line so we can gossip about the new account manager that ACME Boots just hired.
We log on and we find your sister at home so we chat with her about what she thougt of last night's "America's Got Talent," where Antonio the magician got the boot.
Despite the fact that Facebook has given us the tools to filter out and stop being bombarded with invites to pillow fihts, hugs, causes and countless other time wasting applications... the disturbing fact is that so many millions of Americans LOVE to screw off online.
Much of Corporate America has already banned Facebook and YouTube from being used. Many Corporations including some big name real estate brokerages have policies against using Facebook at work -- simply because of the temptation to screw off and waste time on the employer's dime.
So while firewalls and proxy servers can stop you from frolicking on Facebook on your computers at work... your employer cannot ban you sneaking off to the bathroom with your iPhone or Droid to get your "Mafia Wars" gaming fix.
All of this boils down to a very disturbing trend that Google isn't very happy about.
FACT: 23% of Americans are spending their Internet time on social networking and only 4% on search (Google, Yahoo, Bing).
And according to the research... a lot of this is wasted time that could be better spent calling customers, making sales and pocketing commissions.
Go figure.
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