HEARD ON THE STREET: Google Makes Facebook Look Socially Awkward - WSJ.com

The press and punditry are having a field day with Facebook-versus-Google this week, but in reality it’s Google chasing Facebook, and Facebook paying more attention to its users and customers than to competitors seeking to leapfrog it by exploiting outlier capabilities such as multi-party desktop video.  imho Mark Zuckerberg et al are probably correct in their assertions that 1) most people don’t care to organize their friends/contacts into groups for info item sharing purposes, and 2) to the extent people are using desktop video today, most of it is 1:1, and not just because many of the current (especially free) video services are limited to 1:1; multi-party desktop video, possible with products/services such as Microsoft Lync, simply is not a mainstream usage pattern today – in part because it’s socially awkward.

Mark Zuckerberg might want to fast-track Facebook's initial public offering.

In what appeared to be a hasty response to the launch of Google's rival social-networking product, called Google+, Mr. Zuckerberg on Wednesday unveiled Facebook's new video-chatting feature. He called it "super awesome." Too bad Google made the same feature available in 2008. Indeed, Facebook suddenly looks vulnerable. This could be bad news for investors who have recently paid top dollar for stock in Facebook in private sales.

HEARD ON THE STREET: Google Makes Facebook Look Socially Awkward - WSJ.com