"So far, Facebook has defaulted to the laziest of all revenue models: ads. It is clear that Google is the king of ads, and this is because intention beats

"So far, Facebook has defaulted to the laziest of all revenue models: ads. It is clear that Google is the king of ads, and this is because intention beats behavior." A well-turned phrase, but actually Facebook has intention in a way far more nuanced than what Google captures. When I "like" something on Facebook not only am I sharing my intention, but a very focused one that directly reflects my interests. I may search Google for things not directly relevant to me (homework, curiosity) I may buy or look for things on Amazon that are not for me (gifts, price comparisons) but if you like something on Facebook chances are that Facebook can strongly infer what other things you may like--Netflix has in fact profited off of this exactly (as has Amazon) and it is possible to build a recommendation engine from this data that will have greater potential than Google's because it can predict what ads will be likely to resonate with customers.