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I agree that FB is a threat to Google, but the notion that Google is loosing just due to the inane valuations and hype Facebook has received seems a bit far fet

I agree that FB is a threat to Google, but the notion that Google is loosing just due to the inane valuations and hype Facebook has received seems a bit far fetched.

jdp23 16y ago
Facebook's got over 500,000,000 users. None of Google's social efforts so far have been particularly successful and some have been disastrous. So even though I agree Facebook's over-hyped and the valuations are optimistic, I still think Google's losing in social.
- gms 16y ago
  Google should stop caring about 'social' so much. It's not in their DNA. They should focus on the types of problems more suited to the company DNA.
  - albertcardona 16y ago
    A company lacks DNA. What it has is cash flow. Look up for example what did Nokia sell before selling cell phones. Or look into what PG says about his recruits: that he chooses the individuals, not the specific application proposal, and that generally the focus of the company is completely different by the end of the YC school.
- JanezStupar 16y ago
  Theres a big difference between losing in social and losing. Remember when MS was losing the internet? Edit: Fixed the loosing typos. Not a native speaker here - so I'll blame the spellchecker :)
  - orangecat 16y ago
    Aaaargh. Lose. The misused "loose" has come out of nowhere in the last 5 years, and for some reason really annoys me.
    - guygurari 16y ago
      This, this, and again this.
  - jdp23 16y ago
    and a decade later, Google's been making billions of dollars each year, and despite massive investment Microsoft is barely breaking even. so true, MS still has the Windows, Office, SQL/Excahnge, and XBox businesses. but its failures in the internet mean that it's not seen as a leader, and its stock price is justifiably suffering.
    - JanezStupar 16y ago
      Yes and it was hit hard and to make matters worse - it only have itself to blame. However they are still far from where one would write them off completely.
- vessenes 16y ago
  At stake for Google is the question of whether it can achieve an additional 'generation' of growth, not survival. It's easy to imagine that it should have been able to get this growth, watching Facebook, and I think this is tantalizing, both to investors and people inside Google. If it can't, it will go the way of Microsoft. What is that way? That way is the way of IBM. What is that way? Billions of dollars in earnings, dominant market positions carved out, buy over build technology decisions. So, yes, it's nice (for some) to imagine Google doing it 'again', but they don't have to do it again, I wouldn't say. Just like Microsoft getting crushed by Google really just ended in Microsoft's growth slowing, and their earnings increasing, Google getting crushed by FB, or some new wunderkind is unlikely to evaporate all those billions of dollars in cash, assets and projects.

I agree that FB is a threat to Google, but the notion that Google is loosing just due to the inane valuations and hype Facebook has received seems a bit far fetched.

jdp23 16y ago

Facebook's got over 500,000,000 users. None of Google's social efforts so far have been particularly successful and some have been disastrous. So even though I agree Facebook's over-hyped and the valuations are optimistic, I still think Google's losing in social.

gms 16y ago
Google should stop caring about 'social' so much. It's not in their DNA. They should focus on the types of problems more suited to the company DNA.
- albertcardona 16y ago
  A company lacks DNA. What it has is cash flow. Look up for example what did Nokia sell before selling cell phones. Or look into what PG says about his recruits: that he chooses the individuals, not the specific application proposal, and that generally the focus of the company is completely different by the end of the YC school.
JanezStupar 16y ago
Theres a big difference between losing in social and losing. Remember when MS was losing the internet? Edit: Fixed the loosing typos. Not a native speaker here - so I'll blame the spellchecker :)
- orangecat 16y ago
  Aaaargh. Lose. The misused "loose" has come out of nowhere in the last 5 years, and for some reason really annoys me.
  - guygurari 16y ago
    This, this, and again this.
- jdp23 16y ago
  and a decade later, Google's been making billions of dollars each year, and despite massive investment Microsoft is barely breaking even. so true, MS still has the Windows, Office, SQL/Excahnge, and XBox businesses. but its failures in the internet mean that it's not seen as a leader, and its stock price is justifiably suffering.
  - JanezStupar 16y ago
    Yes and it was hit hard and to make matters worse - it only have itself to blame. However they are still far from where one would write them off completely.
vessenes 16y ago
At stake for Google is the question of whether it can achieve an additional 'generation' of growth, not survival. It's easy to imagine that it should have been able to get this growth, watching Facebook, and I think this is tantalizing, both to investors and people inside Google. If it can't, it will go the way of Microsoft. What is that way? That way is the way of IBM. What is that way? Billions of dollars in earnings, dominant market positions carved out, buy over build technology decisions. So, yes, it's nice (for some) to imagine Google doing it 'again', but they don't have to do it again, I wouldn't say. Just like Microsoft getting crushed by Google really just ended in Microsoft's growth slowing, and their earnings increasing, Google getting crushed by FB, or some new wunderkind is unlikely to evaporate all those billions of dollars in cash, assets and projects.