Facebook .Vs. Google
Yesterday Brick technology reported about the Google+ launch. It was within this article that we mentioned Facebook’s plans to launch their new in-browser video chat service which would be delivered as part of a partnership deal with Skype.
This in-built video chat service from Facebook was set to rival that of the Hangout feature in Google+. Starting a social network from scratch isn’t the easiest of things to do otherwise everyone would be doing it! The Hangout feature has been one of the main keys to Google+ chances of success. However with competition now from Facebook who already have a massive following in place their in-built video chat has been seen as their way of having a dig.
However, Google+ are one step ahead allowing users to video chat with up to ten people at one time whereas the Facebook with Skype video chat doesn’t offer the same ability. The video chat will only be available through the premium subscription service offered by Skype which costs around £15 for three months.
It is this fee which could limit Facebook’s inbuilt chat service from taking off. Currently Skype has around 170 million users, no doubt they will gain many more through Facebook’s three quarters of a billion users however it is whether they decide to pay the price and remove the fee.
With Google’s past reputation in social networking not being very positive people are sceptical as to whether or not Facebook will simply just see them off without competition. Google Buzz was ignored, Google Wave was ridiculed and Orkut may now be starting to lose its famous and renowned lead in Brazil.
A deal has been talked about for some time with Facebook and Google, last October Skype 5.0 was released and this meant Facebook friends could voice call one another but there was no video chat feature.
The partnership deal between Facebook and Skype is set to bring Facebook extremely close to Microsoft should it occur. This is because they announced to have acquired Skype but already Facebook is close to Microsoft after they partnered concerning search integration and other services since. Microsoft invested in Facebook just over four years ago.
But is Facebook worried about Google+?
Causing even more of a stir Facebook has been accused of blocking the Facebook Friend Exporter, a Google Chrome extension which allows you to export lists of contact info for your Facebook friends in order to use them within other services. They started from today to remove email addresses of your friends from your personal profiles so that the extension feature will no longer work. Facebook further caused a stir by their refusal to comment on the Friend Exporter plug-in situation.
Facebook is currently valued at around £62 billion, Google+ is a threat to them and so maybe the blocked plug-in is their last resort – a desperate attempt to keep their domination as a social media service.
We will have to wait until tomorrow to see whether the rumours concerning Facebook and their in-built video chat service are true! Whilst we wait make sure that you are following us on Facebook.