> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.philsimon.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Why Google is Scared
- URL: https://www.philsimon.com/why-google-is-scared/
- Published: 2011-02-15T13:50:45.000Z
- Updated: 2025-12-30T10:57:47.000Z
- Description: Facebook is the source of increasingly valuable information.
- Author: Phil Simon
- Tags: Trends, Facebook/Meta, Google

I've written before about the importance of [social search](https://www.dataflux.com/dfblog/?p=4600&ref=philsimon.com). Remember that Google cannot index content behind Facebook's virtual wall: Facebook is smart enough to know that there's tremendous value to which it alone has access.

So, upon logging into Facebook this morning, I couldn't help but notice two queries that, five years ago, would have been Google searches:

![scared](https://storage.ghost.io/c/8f/b5/8fb5e321-49a6-4cf5-8a28-c6f6d5417e54/content/images/2025/05/scared-1.jpg "scared")

*Note how Google in effect updated Facebook in the second and third status updates.*

## Simon Says

Looks like Google is big enough that it is now enabling the competition--at least in part.

If you don't think that this is keeping Google senior folks up at night, think again.