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Yahoo ties up with Facebook, Google follows suit with Twitter
by Jaspreet Virk - December 3, 2009 - comments
Facebook Connect service, introduced last year, allows users to log on to the sites with their Facebook credentials, and today there is hardly any site that does not allow users to log in with their Facebook account
New York, December 3 -- Yahoo may be a distant second to Google in terms of market share, but it is leaving no stone unturned to break the search giant’s stranglehold on Internet search market.
In an attempt to take on Google, Yahoo has announced a partnership with Facebook.
As per the deal, Yahoo will start integrating its Web sites with Facebook Connect service in the first half of 2010, thus allowing Yahoo users to integrate their content and activities directly with Facebook, the No. 1 social networking site.
But this does not mean that Google is sitting still. In response to Yahoo Facebook tie up, the search giant has announced its integration with Twitter, signifying that it is trying to stay in the fight.
About the deals
The Yahoo users will now be able to view their Facebook feeds on Yahoo pages and update status messages on Yahoo sites.
At the same time, the Facebook users will share photos on Yahoo’s site such as Flickr, and leave comments on new stories on sites like Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! Finance etc through Facebook stream.
In case of Google Twitter integration, users of Google’s Friend Connect site will now be able to log in with their Google or their Twitter credentials, meaning that they will be able to tweet with a click of a button, share new membership with friends, share interesting content etc.
Who will emerge as Web’s identity platform?
There is no doubt that Facebook is dominating the Web through its Facebook Connect service.
The service, introduced last year, allows users to log on to the sites with their Facebook credentials, and today there is hardly any site that does not allow users to log in with their Facebook account.
The ubiquity of the social networking site, which has over 350 million users worldwide, will surely allow Facebook to increase its presence on the Web. Yahoo believes that the contents, which users share on Facebook, will drive users back to it.
Coming to Google, the search giant does not have a large sharing platform. Though it has Orkut and Google Reader, they have not found many users as Facebook and Twitter, with combined users around half a billion.
Will the Twitter tie up help Friend Connect spread the way Facebook could help spread Yahoo and its various sites? Not really.
Reason: Twitter is nowhere near to Facebook in terms of users. But the Twitter integration is a nice addition, which could benefit Google in the long run.