SOCIAL NETWORKS - VS - SEARCH ENGINES (the morphing of Facebook)

We have been watching Facebook transform into a fairly marketing-oriented platform. With it's 1 billion + loyal users, could Facebook pose a major challenge to search engines like Google and Bing?

Say, for instance, Facebook opted to integrate its own search engine within its users pages. What effect would that have on Google? I believe that, in time, we might see something like that happen. Because there's an obviously tendency from the part of Facebook to facilitate world information just as Google -- in addition to facilitating the marketing of oneself.
Facebook already has the usership count that Google has long tried to have -- with places like Orkut and now Google +. But, with an added search engine, what would that mean to other search engines?
Obviously, Google's services have already attained limits that might make it impossible for anyone to catch up. But do you see Facebook posing a challenge in that aspect?

The advantage of search engines versus social networks is that many of them are integrated with the most popular browsers. Meaning that their websites are constantly accessed, as opposed to a person having to remember one's website address and typing it in.

Pleasure to read your thoughts!

 

I like your writeup. I wanted to add that consumer habits are also changing the way Facebook and other social sites work. They are quickly taking over as a launch point from which consumers find information and products.

For example, my wife was looking for some crock-pot recipes. Where did she go first? Pinterest. Whenever she needs to make something, even food, she goes there first. I asked her why, she said because everything is vetted already. The more repins the better the information should be right? I'm not so sure on that last part. but i can't argue that pinterest is a great place to go for recipes.

When she is looking for a particular product, she will hit up her facebook friends first. As a mother, she has mother friends. She's also pregnant and was looking for a used hoody for our short Florida winter down here. She was able to quickly get a hoody for free the same day. in fact she got a message from another mom within 5 mins of posting. To buy a maternity hoody at a store would have cost alot of money.

In fact I've not seen her use a search engine in a really long time. So the shift is already happening and Facebook and other social sites will only get better at it.