Computer and Library Learning (Archived)

Much of the writing on the technology pages throughout 2011 has revolved around the rivalry between Facebook and Google. Much of the writing toward the end of 2011 has offered prognostications about their continuing rivalry in 2012. One deciding factor may well be what the users of Facebook and/or Google (maybe that includes you the reader) do in 2012 regarding their interactions with/on the Internet.

The varied opinions are interesting but let us start with some context before reviewing some comments. Nielsen Media Research reported on December 28, 2011 that Google is the number one website accessed in the United States with approximately 153,441,000 unique visitors per month, while Facebook was in second place with about 137,644,000 unique visitors per month.

Dan Tynan, writing on PC World on December 30, 2011, noted that he and millions of other people are using Facebook and Twitter to find new content on the Internet rather than using Google. Paul Allen of Ancestry.com has predicted that Google Plus (Google’s challenger to Facebook in the realm of social networking) could have 400 million users by the end of 2012. (Please see Mr. Allen’s graph below.)

Forbes weighed in on the debate on December 30, 2011 with its article “Facebook vs. Google: The Battle for Internet Dominance” . Facebook remains one of Google’s biggest challenges to internet dominance. Google’s ability to index the World Wide Web has been hindered by Facebook “walling off” its site to Google searches. Another possibility is that Facebook may develop its own search engine.

2012 will be an interesting year to watch as the Facebook-Google rivalry continues…