The war between Google and Facebook is becoming much more of a topic trend among industry watchers. After all, the impact has ripple effects that impact everything from SEO to social media marketing, PPC advertising, and much more. Previously, ‘links’ and search engine results were the currency of website traffic. Now, it is completely apparent that the ‘like’ button is transforming the web into a more efficient democratic entity.

In March of 2010, Facebook surpassed Google as the number 1 online destination in the United States. The final ‘nail in the coffin’ so to speak, demonstrating that Google could no longer dismiss the competitive rise of the rival. Though Google has made some attempts along the way to create potential communities that could compete, seemingly with a lack of urgency and dedication of resources, now everyone is looking for the release of ‘Google.me‘ – could this be a ‘last stand’ for the search engine giant?

Probably not, but there is no doubt that the longer it takes Google to figure out how to translate it’s ‘search engine/link driven democracy’ into a social ‘voting/like button driven democracy’ the more ground it stands to lose. Facebook has the competitive advantage, having the retrospective of how search engines operate (algorithms, links, etc) but the reverse isn’t true, since there has never been a social community with the size and force of Facebook. Leaving Google scrambling for strategic opportunities.

The bottom line is that further democratizing the web through the organic power of social interaction is much more efficient, effective, and powerful than links and algorithms. After all, we haven’t yet created fully functional artificial intelligence, so how can algorithms beat the opinions and actions of the dynamic masses clicking the ‘like’ button and voting for the most interesting, useful, and meaningful content?

Good luck Google.

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