Go60Guy - 6:09 pm on Jan 6, 2011 (gmt 0)

Tangential to the topic, I look at Google and Facebook from the standpoint of where I can most effectively spend my time in developing sites. Facebook is designated as social media for the very reason that it's overriding purpose is to allow people to connect with friends and family. Sure, there's the possibility of making business connections, but, from what I can see, that's a miniscule portion of Facebook traffic.

So, if I'm endeavoring to sell a particular widget model, it's extremely doubtful that a Facebook, Farmville game player is going to have the slightest interest in what I'm selling. The much greater likelihood is that a motivated buyer will search Google, and, hopefully, find my site, resulting in a purchase.

I'm not suggesting that, in a rare instance, a Facebook devotee won't respond to my blandishments about the merits of that widget model. But I can't see where it would be worth the time and effort, unless I'm promoting something that has a social concept associated with it.

So, I see the two as presenting fundamentally different business models, Google, Bing and Yahoo being the obvious choices for what I'm seeking to accomplish.