Facebook Inc (FB)’s Social Graph Is a Google Inc (GOOG) Plus Killer

Not everyone thinks that Social Graph is a big deal. Nate Elliott from Forrester Research dismissed the notion that social search would be a game changer, saying:

[I]t’s still just site search. The big news isn’t that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) has fixed its search tool; the big news is that it didn’t do this long ago. … Will this feature go head-to-head with Google? I seriously doubt it; the two indexes contain entirely different kinds of information. Will it compete with Yelp or TripAdvisor? Again, unlikely; when was the last time you posted a full-paragraph review and a star rating of a restaurant or hotel on Facebook?

Elliot is missing the forest for the trees. Social Search doesn’t have to compete head on with Google Search; it can attack Google (and Google Plus) obliquely simply by increasing user engagement. In today’s hyper-stimulated world, user time and attention are scarce commodities. There are only so many hours the average user can devote to any one site or service, no matter how efficient or helpful. The more time that Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) users spend within the social network’s proprietary ecosystem, the less time they will have to spend on Google.

Get scared, Google
In this Fool’s opinion, Google’s engineers should not only be worried about Social Graph, they should be pulling their hair out by the roots. Whether or not Social Graph will cut into Google’s core search business is almost besides the point. For Google Plus, Social Graph is a disaster.

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The article Facebook’s Social Graph Is a Google Plus Killer originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Kyle Spencer has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Facebook and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook and Google.

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