Does Google care enough about social networks?  Should it be afraid, very afraid of the potential impact that the massive growth of social networks will have on the internet?  There are  some  analysts who thinks so and who would even go as  far as to say that  Google is ignoring social search because they’re jealous of social networks.

 Ross Sandler of RBC Capital Markets  gives us a reality check of the situation when he says that based  on its current rate of growth Facebook will be larger that Google by 2012.  Seems incredible doesn’t it –  a social networking site larger than Google.  Before you get all excited by this, remember that these projections are based upon Facebook maintaining its current growth rate.

Facebook is a social network of gigantic proportions. Its sheer size and interactive social community has made it an important Google traffic source.  In fact a  whopping 19% of Google’s sessions now originates from Facebook. To give you a  measure of Facebook’s growth,  last year 9% of all Google sessions came from Facebook.  I am sure that  the  business savvy people at Facebook are aware of  potential benefits this type of growth can create   and they  will not miss the opportunity to use these traffic  statistic as leverage to negotiate a deal with Google.

You don’t have to be a techno geek to know that Google and Facebook are two different entities. Clearly  social and search are two  different things.  I admit that at times they might overlap, but essentially they are two  separate things  that complement each other.  For instance you don’t use Google to tell you what your 1000 friends are up to, nor do you expect Facebook to find the exchange rate for converting  Swiss Francs to  US dollars.  

At present Facebooks growth is a positive event for Google. It is actually increasing Google’s search share when compared to  its rivals.  This  staggering  fact alone  should  have an important impact on any  future monetization  negotiations Facebook might have with Google .  But hang on a minute lets not forget that there  are other  interested parties  like  Microsoft, Yahoo that I  reckon  would also like to make  use of  Facebooks massive growth.

It’s interesting  that a social network like Facebook could overtake Google, but does it mean that Google should be afraid?  Imagine a  world where  Facebook becomes every single person’s  start page. Would  that make Google redundant? Would that be the end of Google?  Personally I can’t imagine the internet without Google.  What do you think?