Google to Challenge 6 FaceBook Weaknesses

Google has tried, and failed, three times to break FaceBook's grip on social networking. Mike Elgan says it's not about social networking per se, but rather a battle over online advertising and the big money that brings. The search engine giant will soon launch a social network called Google Me. So what makes this fourth attempt a more-likely contender? Elgan says it takes on FaceBook's six weak spots. Datamation.com has the full story.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has put the company on "lockdown" for 60 days in preparation for a coming war with Google.

The reason: Google will launch a social network called Google Me sometime between tomorrow and the end of the year, according to a very widely accepted but unconfirmed rumor. The company is also buying up companies to fortify itself for the launch.

But why would a search engine company want to dominate social networking? The answer is that Google isn't a search engine company. Google is in the advertising business. It attracts users by offering a wide variety of free services. Google then uses those services to harvest information about users, which it can then leverage to sell more advertising at higher prices.

Read the complete Google versus FaceBook article.