I think facebook could own the world. They have an unbelievable amount of personal information about a truly vast number of people, which allows them to deliver

I think facebook could own the world. They have an unbelievable amount of personal information about a truly vast number of people, which allows them to deliver targeted advertising with unprecedented relevance. With the new messaging platform and places they're going to glean even more data about users, valuable not just for delivering ads, but for much wider commercial interests. You'll book restaurants through facebook, find hot girls/boys near you through facebook, shop through facebook, game on facebook; in short live your whole life through facebook. Already for many young people, facebook is the internet. There's one arena they haven't targeted yet (as far as I know): web search. If they integrate search then I think yes they'll own everything. They're the one firm with the rep, funding (or funding resources), infrastructure and expertise to really pull off a Google competitor. And given what they know about you, your search results can be tailored in a way that Google can only dream of. Edit: I'm not an fb fan, user-wise. I don't want my life lived in public, or to give up these kinds of data. But I can't help be enormously impressed about what they've achieved, and what they _could_ achieve.