With Google’s debut last week of its monster infant, Google+, I can’t help but think of Bette Davis’s famous movie line: “Hold on to your seats. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”
How fun is this? At last count, Facebook had upwards of 700 million users. The newborn, who weighs in at a cazillion gigabites give or take, has barely had its first nap. Yet already 10 million users have signed up. Coo coo.
So, what’s the difference? Who will prevail by next year?
David Williams, CEO of Blinq Media, offered some razor-sharp differentiation in the July 15 edition of Ad Age Digital. Mr. Williams works with brands including Baskin Robbins and Mentos. In his words, “Google has expertise in search . . .while Facebook knows who you are, Google knows what you want.”
Facebook knows our interests. But Google knows our intentions. Mr. Williams continued: “Google will have a tremendous amount of intent data that could allow them to create a better ad model for social than Facebook — a very, very powerful ad model.”
Is it fascinating, convenient, or creepy that these monolithic digital giants are dissecting us complicated human beings? I think it’s a bit of all three. What about you?
