Googled: Google and OpenSocia

The New York Times reported Nov. 2 that MySpace and Bebo, two of the world’s largest social-networking Web sites, recently signed onto a collaboration led by Google to link all the social-networking sites together — at least all but one.

Facebook isn’t a part of this group. It’s given Google the cold shoulder, and now the search engine seems to be fighting back with a mega-social partnership. Google says Facebook was allowed in what is the OpenSocial project.

The selling point of OpenSocial is that it can save companies time. It allows third-party companies and programs to create one set programs that will work across the most popular social networks online. So they won’t have to make separate programs for MySpace, Friendster and Orkut. But they will for Facebook.

“The alliance now presents a powerful counterweight to Facebook, which, after opening up its site to developers last spring, has persuaded thousands of them to create programs for its users,” the Times story states. “The addition of MySpace, the world’s largest social network with 110 million active members, and Bebo, the No. 1 site in Britain with 39 million active users, could also put pressure on Facebook to drop its own standard and join the alliance, called OpenSocial.”

Maybe Facebook thinks it doesn’t need Google. Or maybe Google thinks it can team up with everyone but Facebook. Both are popular, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Sure, Facebook is the default go-to network right now. But that doesn’t mean much in a long-term sense. That doesn’t mean the OpenSource collaboration will really bring about its destruction either.

But let’s face it. Whenever Google does anything, it is likely an effort to get even richer.

The Times story points out that exposure may not be the benefit for the search engine. Google can use the sites it collaborates with to sell more advertising. “The Internet search giant already has a $900 million advertising partnership with MySpace, and sells advertising on various other social networks. Its ads sometimes appear inside the applications created by third-party developers,” the story states.

Google specializes in advertising, but I don’t think this is widely acknowledged. Our main perception of Google is that it is a search engine, which it also is.

Think about how Google has made so much money.

Its advertising revenue is enough to make any newspaper jealous. A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission report states that during the last fiscal year, Google reported $10.492 billion in total advertising revenues and only $112 million in licensing and other revenues.

Google is a wealthy Internet tool. The Times also published a recent story on Google stock. The Nov. 12 story reported that Google’s “stock has risen more than 44 percent, or $203 a share, this year.”

I sometimes think Google has too much money and power, and that my dependency on Google should be limited. But then again, I just “googled” Google.

We depend on Google for maps, videos, images, news and even e-mail accounts. Google’s power is prevalent, and we must look at it closely to explore the future of the Web.