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Facebook and Google vying for World Domination with Skype, Bing and Google Voice.
Facebook and Skype
Facebook and Skype have now combined which makes it easier for you to call and message your Facebook contacts. The merge now allows Skype users to go through the Facebook feed where they can like or comment on posts just like on Facebook normally.
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Now you can use Skype to call or message your Facebook contacts, and if they have a Skype number, your calls will be free. If one of your Facebook contacts hasn’t put their phone number on Facebook, then you can request that they do so by sending them a message.
This move by Facebook is another natural progression for them into allowing users to contact their friends and family as quickly and as easily as they can, but with the added ability to call other Skype users for free, this will surely be a big hit.
This could mean a change in the way mobile service providers’ work; I am thinking there will be a bigger shift towards the sale of Data packages more than just standard minutes and texts. The service providers need to think more about the future and how people could be using Skype calls more than their minutes. Plus with Skype to Skype calls free on Wi-Fi networks, the service providers will have to think more carefully about how they can capitalise/ compete with this.
Skype V Google
Skype on the other hand is facing a threat from Google; the search engine giant has now integrated Google Voice within Gmail so they can call and message their Gmail contacts.
Facebook and Bing
To add to the controversy earlier this week Facebook and Bing launched their integrated recommendation search. Ray Valdes, an analyst with Gartner, said the partnership announcement was less about Facebook and Microsoft than it was about Facebook versus Google.
Facebook V Google
“The real importance of [this week's] announcement is that it highlights the growing strategic conflict between Facebook and Google,” Valdes said. “There is a battle for the future of the Web, and it is not about search engines, but about the social Web. The competition is between the new and the old – between Facebook as the early leader in the social Web, and Google as the dominant player in the content Web. Everyone else, such as Microsoft, Yahoo and Twitter, will play a secondary role, and will start lining up on one side or the other.”
Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, said there’s a big battle brewing between Google and Facebook, and Microsoft may have found a way to use that conflict to chip away at Google’s massive market lead.
Google V Skype
Google hasn’t yet released its faux-VoIP service internationally, but it has already launched its group video chat in beta. Google’s presence in Skype’s backyard could spell disaster as Google could easily undercut Skype’s prices in order to attract more users. Google hasn’t yet shown much strength in the social networking arena though. Google Wave was shut down in August and reviews of Google Buzz were lacklustre. But the company has learned from its failures and may be ready to try to snare some of those advertising dollars away from Facebook.
Google V Facebook
Although Facebook has 500 million plus users, there is always the possibility that Google could enter the social networking wars in the future in an attempt to displace Facebook as the social networking king. Rumoured to be dubbed, Google Me, the Google social network is considered to be the search giant’s shot at creating a Facebook killer.
Right now Facebook and Skype are aware how important they are to each other, as together they stand more chance of competing with Google.
Posted by Andy Trainer in News, Social Media on October 18th, 2010| 1 Comment »
bing joins facebook
Microsoft Bing now lets users personalise their queries by drawing on information friends have shared on Facebook.
This is a sign of things to come in the powerful world of search. It offers more personalised search enabling more interesting social scenarios in the future. From the Facebook explanation of today’s announcement: “When you search for something on Bing or in web results on Facebook (powered by Bing), you’ll be able to see your friends’ faces next to web pages they’ve liked.”
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Google has been moving in the same direction. It already offers a version of this concept, a separate category of results drawn from people you’re linked with in your Google Account and on Twitter.
But by plugging into Facebook, Bing’s version of social search could be far more accurate and powerful than Google’s – if, that is, users don’t mind seeing their Facebook friends popping up on the site.
Liked Results
A new Bing search option will serve up relevant items shared by friends on Facebook.
For example a search for a restaurant in Brighton will not just show the highest ranking resteraunts in Brighton, but the best places to eat according to your Facebook friends.
Profile Search
change you facebook privacy settings
This will display Facebook profiles matching your query and provide people-specific links found in their general Web search.
Both features rely on Facebook’s controversial “instant personalization” system. But unlike other partners, Bing has made it opt-in, so you shouldn’t see any sign of your Facebook presence on the site unless you give Bing permission first. This will please many people who are worried about privacy issues.
They are not enabled for everyone yet.
The social-search results turn up when searchers are logged in to Facebook; they can choose to opt out. If you have already edited your personalisation settings in facebook you may even need to turn them on again before it will work.
In which case edit your account settings -
- Go to privacy Settings and choose Applications and Websites
- Then you can click the enable personalisation check box at the bottom of the page.
turn on instant personalisation
I have done this and am not getting Facebook results only tiwitter so far, but from what I have read out there I am not alone.
Microsoft says Bing will give the user five warnings about the exisiting connection between Facebook and the search engine where there is one. After that, users will have to search where to turn it off.
Facebook says Bing will not send information about user searches back to Facebook.
“Is Bing sending data back to Facebook? The answer is no,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
“For Microsoft, it simply can’t afford to ignore a service that has 500 million users,” said Rob Helm, managing vice president of research at Directions on Microsoft. Helm said he had privacy concerns: “I don’t know that I’m crazy about sharing that information with Bing.”
From what the executives said at a press conference today, it sounds like Microsoft and Facebook have other jointly-developed search tricks up their sleeves. (Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a passing reference to another maps-related one, with no details.)
And Facbook are linking with other key players in the internet sphere.
Skype 5.0 for Windows has just been released which includes a Facebook tab that allows users to SMS, chat or call their Facebook friends via Skype right from the News Feed.
Skype’s Facebook integration is both sophisticated and sleek, and brings your Facebook experience inside Skype. Skype now offers a gateway to immediately call, text or chat with your Facebook contacts.
All of these developments come suspiciously close to the announcement that Google now would support phone calls via its Gmail service, making another point of contention between Mountain View and its Zuckerberg-led rivals.
Posted by Heather Buckley in News, SEO, Social Media on October 15th, 2010| 1 Comment »
Apple, Microsoft, and Google have all recently announced great integrations with Flickr. If you’ve spent ages building up a library of great photos in Flickr you can now link them to Google Buzz, Google Maps, Bing Streetside, iPhoto and Aperture
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This post covers how to link your Flickr account to Google Buzz, Google Maps, Bing Streetside, iPhoto and Aperture…
Read the rest of "Flickr Integration – Google Buzz and Microsoft Bing Streetside"
Posted by Heather Buckley in Business Skills, New Free Resources, News, Photography, Photoshop, Sales & Marketing, SEO on February 18th, 2010| 1 Comment »
Since Microsoft launched its new Bing search engine out of the ashes of Windows Live back in May, it hasn’t made many inroads on Google‘s dominance of the search market.
That could be set to change, if a new deal between Microsoft and media giant News Corp announced today comes to fruition. In a bold move, Microsoft has held discussions with Rupert Murdoch’s firm around a deal which could see News Corp “de-index” its news sites from Google, granting exclusivity to Bing.
News Corp owns some of the world biggest newspapers, including the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal in the USA, and The Sun, The Times and the News of the World in the UK.
If information is power (which it certainly is when it comes to seach engines) – this move to effectively censor the information Google can display in its SERPS could be a key move in winning market share for Bing. Market share for Bing is currently around 10-12%, which is embarrasing compared to Google’s share of over 50%.
In terms of service – at present Bing doesn’t really offer anything that Google doesn’t already have. This new line of attack is about taking away from Google, rather than adding anything new or innovative to Bing.
Rupert Murdoch has made his intent to charge for online content clear for some time, using the argument that “quality journalism doesn’t come cheap”. Most major newspapers currently publish the majority of their content online for free, which has had a major impact on sales of papers from newsagents.
The argument over for whether news should be made availalbe free online or not will continue, but what is clear is that if the way we consume our news online moves to a “paid-for” model, the search engine with the publishing rights to the major players’ content will hold a distinct advantage.
Could this be the beginning of a turn in the tide for Bing’s fortunes?
Let us know your thoughts on this…
Posted by Andy Trainer in News on November 23rd, 2009| No Comments »
