Facebook To Google: I’ll See Your Google Plus And Raise You A Skype

With the ink not even dry on the Google+ press release, Facebook announced the addition of the Microsoft-owned Skype as the war – and yes it is most assuredly a war, rages on as to who can one up, or is that one-app each other next.

This is getting fun, isn’t it? Watching and waiting, hearing the rumors as to what Google, Facebook, Apple – can’t forget them, will come up with next as they each try to win the hearts of essentially the entire human race.

And make no mistake about it kids, the Facebook-Skype “arrangement” if you will, was a direct salvo fired at the hull of the Google mother ship.

Jay Greene, senior writer for CNET:

“… the Microsoft-Facebook relationship isn’t really about savvy investment, of course. It’s about fighting off Google. Microsoft’s Facebook deals, and you can include the new video chat feature from Skype, are all aimed squarely at the search king. And just as the Web search giant has changed the market dynamics to undermine Microsoft’s power–helping establish the Web, not the PC desktop, as the heart of computing–so too is Facebook challenging Google. Its service, with 750 million users worldwide, is becoming something of an alternative Internet, a place where computer users spend huge chunks of time and never touch a Google service.”

I love the line… “… so too is Facebook challenging Google. Its service, with 750 million users worldwide, is becoming something of an alternative Internet.”

An alternative Internet.

Don’t think I’ve heard that phrase before but it does give rise to the notion I brought up a few weeks ago in a post titled Facebook And Twitter Will Soon Replace All Websites. I admit it was a bit of a stretch for a title but, if you read the post and digest the stats presented… well, that whole “alternative Internet” thing isn’t so far fetched.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, the Facebook Skype hookup comes on the heels of the unveiling of Google+, the new social network offering all sorts of cool features like “hangouts” and “circles.” Still limited to a few select folks, Google+ was designed, naturally, to offer the three-quarters of a billion people an alternative, there’s that word again… to Facebook.

I will leave you with one final quote: “We’re in the process of figuring out what we want to do next.”

Who do you think said that?

A) Steve Ballmer?

B) Steve Jobs?

C) Larry Page or Sergey Brin?

D) Mark Zuckerberg

The correct answer is D but I’m pretty sure those same words could be applied to ALL of them.

Click here to read the full story on CNET and click here to read about the mechanics behind the Facebook and Skype deal.

Sources: CNET, GigaOM, Google Images, Facebook To Google: I’ll See Your Google Plus And Raise You A Skype