The Breakup: My Love Affair with Google

It started out innocently enough. I was tired of Yahoo's sad little search engine. It wasn't bringing me what I needed in the relationship, and so I went looking for something else, something more confident, more hip, more streamlined. That's when I found Google. To say it was love at first sight (site?) was putting it lightly. I was hooked.

I signed up for the Gmail beta waaay back in the day. I loved the storage capacity, the design, and the ease of use. When Google came out with Maps, I knew I'd never need MapQuest again. I was already a Blogger user, but when Google took that over, I was elated. "It's going to be so easy.. I just have to log in once and Google will remember everything about me. No more running from page to page, remembering passwords, etc...," I thought.

That is until recently, when Google announced its OpenSource campaign. Basically, Google is combining three Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that will allow developers to access information based on social networks. This includes:

• Profile Information (user data)
• Friends Information (social graph)
• Activities (things that happen, News Feed type stuff) (source)
  

Now, this bothers me. A lot. Beforehand, I always had the ability to log off of Google. I could step away. I could log into my social networks, and only the people I knew on there would know what I was up to. For example, I know every single one of my friends on Facebook, but would I necessarily want them to know what I'm looking at on the web? More importantly, do I want to be so ingrained that I know what all my friends are looking at? Not really, no.

Google has partnered with social networks Orkut, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Ning, Hi5, Plaxo, Friendster, Viadeo and Oracle and developers Flixster, iLike, RockYou and Slide.

Does all this mean I'm going to stop using Google? No.. we've gone too far at this point. There's too much history, too much at stake. But will I be skeptical, privatize all my information, and fake a headache when Google asks for more? Yes; on more than one night per week.

The honeymoon is over.

Google introduces OpenSocial:

Google vs. Facebook

Looking through the online material involving OpenSocial, I'm still on the fence as to whether Google's latest venture will dominize the social networking world and annihilate Facebook. Facebook is surviving by its fanbase who remain true to their social and now exclusive circle.
I am not a fan of Facebook (never have been). I came into the social network world by way of MySpace. I'm attracted to simple applications that don't involve too much time to operate. OpenSocial appears to be the answer for those like me who don't want to make a career out of being involved in social networking. With the open platform, it seems like the social networks are banding against Facebook's intentional domination over social networking just as Google dominated the search engine platform. Google is trying to regain strength with the help of Digg, Twitter, and such sites to overpower Facebook in a final attempt.
Facebook's strategy of remaining closed off answers the privacy issue that Google thinks will work itself out. The plan could possibly backfire and drive users towards Facebook for its exclusive atmosphere. Google might expose too much information, but in the broader sense I think the two will share the playing field. Facebook has such a built reputation that it has already solidified its users. Google's new OpenSocial will cater to those who have rejected Facebook. Techcrunch clarified the OpenSocial agenda much clearer for me.