Google acquires Facebook



Mountain View (CA), April 1st, 2009 - The internet giant Google (GOOG) surprised the world once again, with the acquisition of the social networking website Facebook, Google's M&A department announced today. The amount of the transaction was kept confidential.

This strategic move brings to Google a highly valuable asset: a gigantic growing structured database of people and people networks. With now both Orkut and Facebook under control, the firm enforces its position inside the social electronic market.

« Essentially our business model will remain the same », Google's PR director Amanda Bentham told us. « Google will provide users with relevant, targeted advertisements, based on their profile, their online conversations, as well as other minor details. We are also developing a "featured suggestions" program, not to mention the "endorsed suggestions" framework, in which if you recommend or convince your friends to attend a special event or buy a specific product, you'll perceive a small fee over the generated revenue. Of course we cannot unveil yet all the exciting new features which will be available to our community; however I can give you a few insights of what has already been integrated in the system.

Standing under the famous motto "Don't be Evil", Google has developed collaborations with national polices and governmental agencies. It's worth citing Google Ladder, similar to Google Audio, who intercepts keywords and retrieves information from VoIP and phone conversations, and Google Face, similar to Google Twin, who helps to create facial composites and to find some matching individuals. On another hand, Google Suspects, claiming Better safe than sorry, will analyze correlations between online profiles and criminal records to detect potential future misdemeanors.

Some new and innovative paying services will also appear in our offer, specifically targeted to the most wealthy members of the community. To give you a few names, Google Detective, Google Hitman focus on individuals, whereas Google CVcheck, Google PatentHole and Google Intelligence concentrate on industries. We also propose specific expertise, like Google Risk for insurance companies, or Google Score for banks and credit issuers. Last but not least, as a part of our caritative branch, we have also created Google Family, based on digital biology, to help people find who their parents or children are, and Google Whoami for people suffering of amnesia.

We also have big projects for the offline world, but I'm afraid I can't yet disclose too much. »

When asked about privacy concerns, Amanda Bentham raises the shoulders.
« Privacy is really an obsolete issue, only brought on the table by old-fashioned zealots. You have to understand that over the last decades we experienced a crucial paradigm shift toward an open society. Today's youngsters are finding out who are sharing their own views, rather than ridiculously trying to hide them. Live with it, or die with your old prejudices. »


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