4 ms·

when facebook launches their adwords/adsense competitor, they will cause serious opposition to google. They're the only company out there with the reach and mos

by dchuk 15y ago

when facebook launches their adwords/adsense competitor, they will cause serious opposition to google. They're the only company out there with the reach and most importantly, demographic data for 1 in 7 people in the world, to disrupt google's stranglehold on internet advertising.

incongruity 15y ago
That's exactly my point, however – both Google and Facebook are in a similar business – connecting advertisers to consumers. Their supply chain is driven by their ability to get consumer attention/eyeballs. In that light, Facebook's supply chain is much more precariously situated, in my never to be humble opinion.
williamchang 15y ago
It doesn't seem clear to me that demographic info will make Facebook's ad platform significantly more compelling to advertisers than Google's. Remember Google has a lot of data too (ie search logs).
- mtts 15y ago
  In principle you are correct. To an advertiser it's much more significant what it is you do when you're on the internet than who you do it with. So in that sense Google is much more valuable than Facebook. The problem is humans are social creatures. So if all there is is Google, humans will do stuff on the internet and Google will know about it, but the social aspects of life remain offline and therefore inaccessible to advertisers. Facebook has managed to get people to spend a much larger percentage of their time online by moving part of their social lives there and they're gambling that a significant portion of that time people will do things that advertisers will be interested to know about. Personally, I doubt this gamble will have the payoff they're apparently expecting. The primary focus during social interaction seems to be on, well, social interaction. Consumption only plays a very small role (though I'm sure Bacardi would like to pop up ads while you're chatting with your buddies on Facebook). Facebook basically catches people only when they're in the mood for fun and relaxation, whereas Google captures people right when they're in the mood for consumption and for spending money and to an advertiser that is much, much more valuable.
jaredsohn 15y ago
My understanding is AdSense is only a small portion of Google's revenue. For their Adwords competitor to be successful, they'd essentially need a search engine for people to specify their intents which they'd either need to write themselves or license their technology to work with a search engine such as Bing.

by dchuk 15y ago

incongruity 15y ago

That's exactly my point, however – both Google and Facebook are in a similar business – connecting advertisers to consumers. Their supply chain is driven by their ability to get consumer attention/eyeballs. In that light, Facebook's supply chain is much more precariously situated, in my never to be humble opinion.

williamchang 15y ago

It doesn't seem clear to me that demographic info will make Facebook's ad platform significantly more compelling to advertisers than Google's. Remember Google has a lot of data too (ie search logs).

mtts 15y ago
In principle you are correct. To an advertiser it's much more significant what it is you do when you're on the internet than who you do it with. So in that sense Google is much more valuable than Facebook. The problem is humans are social creatures. So if all there is is Google, humans will do stuff on the internet and Google will know about it, but the social aspects of life remain offline and therefore inaccessible to advertisers. Facebook has managed to get people to spend a much larger percentage of their time online by moving part of their social lives there and they're gambling that a significant portion of that time people will do things that advertisers will be interested to know about. Personally, I doubt this gamble will have the payoff they're apparently expecting. The primary focus during social interaction seems to be on, well, social interaction. Consumption only plays a very small role (though I'm sure Bacardi would like to pop up ads while you're chatting with your buddies on Facebook). Facebook basically catches people only when they're in the mood for fun and relaxation, whereas Google captures people right when they're in the mood for consumption and for spending money and to an advertiser that is much, much more valuable.

jaredsohn 15y ago

My understanding is AdSense is only a small portion of Google's revenue. For their Adwords competitor to be successful, they'd essentially need a search engine for people to specify their intents which they'd either need to write themselves or license their technology to work with a search engine such as Bing.