Last week I went to meet some friends for a drink. One is in the business of website advertising, the other works for Google, with me working in tech PR it’s become a hazard of our friendship that we often discuss what some would deem ‘geeky’ subjects. There was a trainee divorce lawyer there too, but she wasn’t particularly interested. It was the day after Facebook had announced it was spreading its wings and swooping into the field of search and what ensued was an interesting debate on whether web 2.0 companies (and Apple) should stick to what they’re good at or battle it out to the death.
So Facebook wants to be a search engine, of sorts. The thought of being able to search for people (or being searched for) based on various criteria on Facebook scares me. Probably because of the way this article describes it, I find the whole thing a little personal-space invading. The website advertiser thinks it’s exciting and only going to get more so as, she believes, it’s only testing the water before it rolls out full search engine functionality. The Google worker thinks it’s outrageous that they would even think to head into the world of search (hello Google+, pot, kettle, black?) and it will never work. The lawyer asked for another glass of wine.
I think I may feel the same way as my Grandma did when the butcher, baker and greengrocers down the road shut-up shop and a Tesco Metro appeared in their place. Yes, it’s much more convenient to only have to go to one place to get everything I need, but is what I’m getting going to be the same quality if they have irons in every fire? A prime example in two words: Apple maps. I still haven’t updated my iPhone to iOS 6 in case I find myself submerged in water, when all I wanted was Lakeside shopping centre. Maps just aren’t their thing, and on the subject of things that aren’t a company’s thing, since when did Google start making hardware? Since when did Twitter have a photo editing function? In fact, things are getting so crazy that Apple even wants to tell us when we need new shoes and Facebook may even put recruitment consultants out of a job!
It could be the modern cold war. Each company trying to be the first to offer something new, then the others scrambling to offer the same, only bigger and better and there will be an eventual winner. Or, Apple Maps will teach them a lesson and they will go back to focussing on what they are good at, living in peaceful, eharmony together. Whichever way it goes, I’m sure there will be plenty more to discuss on the subject over drinks. That and the lawyer will be politely declining my invitations in the future, but at least I can find new friends with similar interests in my local area thanks to Facebook.
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