The battle for the future of the web is in the hands of Facebook or Google - What operations strategy should be adopted by Facebook or Google that will help them succeed over the other - Essay Example

The battle for the future of the web between Facebook and Google Introduction Facebook and Google are two of the most prominent companies in the world at present. Google has recorded revenues worth $ 6 billion in 2005, nearly twice that made in 2004. Moreover, Google joined the list of 100 most powerful companies in the world in 2005. International revenues of Google showed a gradual increase from 22% in 2002, to 39% in 2005 (Verma, 2006, p.8-10). All these statistics clearly reveal the assets and growth of Google in the recent past.

On the other hand Facebook is another web company which conquered the web business world only in recent times. “Facebook was founded in 2004 by a former-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg”(Marshable, 2010). In fact Facebook is responsible for unveiling the business potentials of social networks. No other web companies thought about the business prospects of social networks as Facebook did. Even though Facebook was started for online socialization purposes, the founders of this company quickly realized its business potentials and did everything possible to exploit it.

According to Shih (2009), “right this moment at least 150000000 people are interacting with friends and talking about the brands on Facebook”(Shih, 2009, p.i). The battle for supremacy is growing between Facebook and Google over the last few years. Facebook is currently causing huge challenges to the supremacy of Google in web business. This paper analyses the strategies necessary for Facebook and Google to maintain their supremacy in the web business. Operational strategies necessary to Facebook and Google for success over the other Facebook has only one business portfolio at present; social networking.

On the other hand Google has many business portfolios such as search engine business, operating system business, social networking, online book business mobile phone business etc. Diversified business portfolios help Google to make revenues from all potential web business segments. Facebook should expand its business portfolio further to sustain their supremacy in the web business. They should realize that no other company has such a big customer base in this world and they can exploit this customer base in many other business areas.

The capabilities of Facebook in bringing social and political changes in this world are immense. The recent Arab revolution is usually referred as Facebook revolution. North (2011) pointed out that “The dictator of Tunisia was overthrown in less than one month after being in power for 23 years. There is no question about how opponents of his regime were able to topple it. Two words describe it: Facebook, Twitter” (North, 2011). Two more Arab dictators (Mubarak from Egypt and Gadhafi from Libya) suffered the same fate of the Tunisian leader because of the influence of Facebook in the social life of Middle East people.

Even in China, Facebook is affecting the views and opinions of people in one way or another. In short, Facebook has immense capabilities in bringing social changes in this world. Google on the other hand do not possess such capabilities. In fact Google is still perceived as a company which is concentrated only on business. Even though, Google has started Google plus to challenge Facebook in social networking business, they failed to capture the market as cleverly as Facebook. Google thought that their huge brand name will come for their rescue in social networking business.

They tried to market old wine in a bottle. In short, people found nothing interesting or unique in Google plus and they stuck with Facebook instead of going after Google plus. Google should make its social networking site more user-friendly to get more attention from the public. Instead of audio chat, Google should provide video chat facilities in its social network to get more attentions from the public and also to defeat Facebook. If Facebook was successful in unveiling the possibilities of social networks in doing business, Google was the first company which unveiled the search engine business prospects.

Even though many other companies such as Yahoo, Bingo, Amazon etc are engaged in search engine business, none of them tasted success as tasted by Google. Same way, Google did succeed in capturing operating system markets of mobile phones and tablets. Google’s android operating system is believed to be the best operating system for tablets and smartphones at present. Moreover, Google books is another latest portfolio added to Google’s diverse web business. In fact Amazon is currently struggling to counter the challenges of Google books.

It should be noted that Facebook do not have any such diversified business portfolios. Facebook should give more attention to the mobile communication industry to increase their prominence in the web market. Ricadela (2007) mentioned that “An influx of older users—professionals in their 30s and 40s, many in high-tech—is changing the face of Facebook” (Ricadela, 2007). Google Plus should reorganize its business strategies to get more attraction from the public irrespective of the differences in age, gender or culture.

Hunt (2009) has argued that “people are on social networks to connect and build relationships. Relationships and connections over time lead to trust, which is the key to form social capital” (Hunt, 2009, p.2). “According to Moskovitz, one of the co-founders of facebook, Google+ failed to attract more users because of the absence of symmetry to the relationships” (Perez, 2011). Google should make business strategies suitable to strengthen the relationship building process through its social network.

It should be noted that G+ was reluctant to provide membership to all users initially. According to Zuckerberg, innovation, giving emphasize on bold decisions, news feeds, converting social networks into social platforms etc are the major success factors of facebook. (Mark Zuckerberg: The Three Keys To Facebooks Success, 2009). Google Plus failed to know the pulses of the people all over the world. They tried to use old marketing strategies to promote Google plus. They should introduce some unique features in their social network site so that facebook customers may turn their attention towards them.

Google should appoint fresh talents more in their company to develop fresh ideas to counter the challenges of facebook. “On August 10th, 2009, Facebook has announced the acquisition of real time news aggregator company, FriendFeed” (O’Neill, 2009). “In September 2009, Facebook has acquired Malaysian startup Octazen Solutions, which specializes in contact importing”(Cutlor, 2010). “On April 2, 2010, Facebook announced the acquisition of a photo-sharing service called Divvyshot”(Schonfeld, 2010).

In other words, Facebook is employing merger and acquisition strategies cleverly to expand their business all over the world. On the other hand Google is not giving such importance to these modern business strategies like mergers and acquisition. Google should try to acquire a major social network such as Myspace or Twitter to counter the threats of Facebook. Facebook is generating huge revenue in the form of online advertising. Google should find ways to decrease the popularity of facebook.

This can be done with only through its social network. In other words, Google should generate more traffic into its social network so that it may capture more online advertising revenue. Google should show more commitments towards their social responsibility. Google recently entered China, a country which disrespects human rights and blocks free flow of information. “Critics blamed Google for supporting a country with a totalitarian regime and known for its numerous human rights violation” (Martin,N.d., p.1). It should be noted that America is a democratic country which always respect human rights.

“Googles refusal to cooperate with the U.S. federal government is perceived as a non-winning move”(Gibbs, 2006, p.92). Current generation rates a company based on its corporate values, ethics and social commitments. Google should improve these things to cement their place in web business. Catone (2007) has mentioned that Google has recently started a blog to tagline Googles views on government, policy and politics in America” (Catone, 2007). “Peter Greenberger, manager of the elections and issues advocacy department of Google, advises candidates for the 2010 U.S. elections to plan on spending 10% of their ad budgets online”(Barnes, 2010, p.10). Google should stay away from politics and give more attention to business.

“Facebook is a privately-owned network, competes with the World Wide Web, a public space” (García & Chasqui, 2010, p.89). Facebook should register as a public a company to boost its credibility. “The age of Facebook is increasing which is not attractive to advertisers” (Social Medias Growing Pains, 2010, p.11). It should identify new channels and business portfolios to maintain its supremacy in the web business. Conclusions Facebook and Google should redefine their business strategies to boost their prospects in web business further.

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