Desert West Media

America's got talent. Look at Google and Facebook. Let's start with Google.

Google's latest step forward is a social networking system called "Google + Project".

Most people when they think social networking, think Facebook, Twitter right away. Facebook allows people to friend one another, chat, send and share photos, videos and more but Google Plus is already racing ahead with features like GROUP VIDEO CHAT. Apparently, twenty-seven year old Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook (you may have seen the movie about him and his beginnings "the Social Network") is already using Google's Plus Project extensively and in fact, Zuckerberg has more people following him on Google Plus than any other "test user" already (currently Zuckerberg has 44,000+ followers on Google Plus). By the way, Google Plus Project recently set its cap for "test users" and is not allowing further testers at this time.

So why is Mark Zuckerberg so into the Google Plus Project? Of course, to see what it has (that Facebook doesn't), it's a great social networking command and control center (so to speak--with the user at the "controls") but its greater die-hard attractive feature college students (college students are the biggest social networking market) can't wait to sink their teeth into is the "Group Video Chat" feature. Seemingly wonderful and allegedly private (privacy reviews are off the charts), it is truly fast (the video conferencing) because of Google's massively hardware backed systems, servers, software and app writing brains at Google made it that way. It also sounds easy to use and best of all, fun.

On the flip-side, Facebook, to compete with Google, Facebook recently teamed up with Skype. Skype was acquired by Microsoft for 8.5 billion in May of 2011. Skype allows users to Video chat with each other Live and make calls from user to user for free (international restrictions apply) and you can video chat for free, all you need is to register for a Skype account have a web cam, and have friends that sign up too.  You can read more on this at money.cnn.com

On another important note, in recent years, Google has been driven to find ways to develop better, easier, faster processes and helping users sift through the mess of the internet and have been improving such skills and tools exponentially. Google Adsense, their advertising service is now used more than any other means for advertising, in the world. Facebook began to develop their own advertising, it has grown well, but still nowhere near the capacity and audience that Google has.

So it is a race, it really becomes two brands, which one is better, has more incentive, has better privacy. Both are experts at data mining to sell you something, but who will prevail? Click here to see Google on Fortune, currently listed as #4

In my opinion, it will be Google. Why? Dark Fiber. In the 80's and 90's before the dot com bubble burst, the US Government was laying fiber ops cable across the US (to eventually use), soon after the dot com bubble burst, the US nearly stopped laying the fiber. Since Google started making mega-bucks, it has been buying these fiber op lines up like hotcakes and in a few more years (according to experts) Google will metaphorically and literally have it all. Why? Speed. Pure speed. In 2005:

"Google is looking for Strategic Negotiator candidates with experience in...(i)dentification, selection, and negotiation of dark fiber contracts both in metropolitan areas and over long distances as part of development of a global backbone network," the posting reads in part. "Dark fiber" refers to fiber-optic cable that's already been laid, but is not yet in use. Thousands of miles of dark fiber are available in the United States, but there have been few takers because of the high costs of making it operational."- http://news.cnet.com/Google-wants-dark-fiber/2100-1034_3-5537392.html#ixzz1RYONCggn

They are nearing wrapping it up (buying dark fiber), when they do, they will can easily become the FASTEST ISP (internet service provider) on the planet. Imagine 400,000 GBS (gigabits per second) connections one day, they just have to flip a switch, not this 3G or 4G joke cell phone companies are selling us now (which is more like 40MBS - megabits per second). Wait, if it's slower, how are they selling it? It's being cast before you merely as a marketing term because it cannot live up to par.

Google is very mobile phone savvy too, look at the Google Android sells leaping in the past couple of months, outselling EVERYTHING else, including the beloved Apple iPhone4 and Apple iPhone5. Obviously in a business sense, Google is and always has been thinking long term, and they are reaching their goals. They know what they are doing.

WAIT! What about Facebook? They don't have dark fiber, they don't have their own "mobile device". Stardust. Facebook is nice, but they have serious flaws and functionality holes (like 3rd party apps they allow to run in iframes which steal a lot of user data, cause hacking issues with facebook) that still need to be mended. Google may even acquire Facebook someday, who knows. In the stretch, I don't think Facebook has a chance.

About the writer: Aaron Conaway is a web designer, photographer, video producer, video editor, screen-writer and a solo musician. For more on him visit his site www.turbowebguy.com

Disclaimer: "Google", "Facebook", "PCMAG", "CNN", "CNN Money", "Fortune Magazine", "CNET", "Yahoo!" and "Yahoo! Movies" have no affiliation with Desert West Media. This article is intended for informational purposes only.