If it weren’t for the huge success of Facebook, the venture capital industry in Silicon Valley would have been a wasteland. There also would not be hyper-growth companies like Zynga.
But it appears Facebook is feeling some heat — that is, from Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) new social network, Google+, which is packed with some powerful features. For example, Circles makes it easier to organize your friends and contacts, and Hangouts provides users with a killer video chat system.
In fact, based on a report from comScore, Google+ has reached 25 million unique visitors. Keep in mind that the service launched only five weeks ago and is invitation-only. Apparently, Google+ is the fastest-growing web service — ever.
True, it is far from certain that it will be an enduring property. The key will be the level of engagement of its users. Yet this may be a self-fulfilling prophesy as more and more users come onboard.
At the same time, it appears Facebook is scrambling. Reports across the Web say the company is in “lockdown.” In other words, employees are solely focused on rapid software development.
Like many items from blogs, this could be just another headline-getting rumor. Yet, there also was a report in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal that mentions Facebook is planning to release some changes. One is to allow “unfiltered” information on the News Feed. It also appears that there will be some tweaks to the “Like” button.
First impressions? It all sounds underwhelming. After all, when Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg recently launched its video feature — involving integration with Microsoft’s (NASDAQ:
MSFT) Skype — it turned out to be a dud. Instead, Google+’s Hangouts appears to be a next-generation approach and is getting lots of traction.
Basically, the engineers at Google look like they are hungry innovators who want to change the world. As for Facebook, the strategy seems to be defensive.
No doubt, the short history of social networking has been grueling, as seen with the implosions at sites like MySpace and Friendster. And so far, it looks like Facebook is starting to make the same kinds of mistakes.
Tom Taulli’s latest book is “All About Short Selling,” and he has an upcoming book called “All About Commodities.” You can find him at Twitter account @ttaulli. He does not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
