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Facebook has a few of the Internet’s “biggies” rockin’ on their heels. This happens.

And one of them happens to be Google. From what I can see, Google has an impressive

advantage in competing (if you want to call it competing) with Facebook and any other “comers.”

A few of Google’s advantages, (at least the way I see it):

1)      First: Google is Google; they don’t, at least so far, feel they are bigger than the Internet,
or that they are the Internet, what Google does, (love em’ or hate em’) is leverage the Internet - to the max.

2)      Second: Google’s been around. It makes them the “crafty” veteran.

3)      Third: Google, for all intent and purpose is not about search. I know, you’re saying this guy’s nuts. If Google isn’t about search, what is Google about? Well, Google is about organization - first and foremost. High-quality search results are utterly dependent on the quality of information organization. And Google’s passion and obsession is organization.

4)      Fourth: and I believe this is important, and so painfully obvious as to be so easily missed, is with Google there is no need for a login…think about that.
(Gmail is email, that’s different.) For one, not having to bother with a login caters to a fundamental human desire, which is the need to be instantly gratified, and the freedom to roam – anywhere and anonymously. And as far as social networks go, any place that has a login pretty much makes for a “walled garden.” (Twitter may be the walled garden exception.) And human beings, by our very nature don’t like to be “walled in” for long, no matter how nice the garden.

5)      Five: Regardless of how lush a garden is, eventually, a lot of people get tired of looking at it, and they want to see a new one.

It could make things interesting if Google comes up with a no-login, (or the illusion of no-login) approach to the "Social Network"… or, have they already done that?

Now on to Facebook; why doesn’t FB let their stuff truly be crawled by Google? What makes them so special?  Well, let me see…hey… I know… it’s about the money. FB can come up with all the corporate jousting they want and I bet it still washes out to money; and it probably goes something like this: Facebook to Google; “hey Google, you want to crawl our exclusively exclusive stuff – pay me.” Then again, who knows how Google and Facebook may "buddy-up" to carve up the world in the name of "enhanced user experience."

Oh, by the way, you can Google us at Blackball Online Marketing Pittsburgh.

It’s not often I come up with advantages or praise for Facebook so let’s give it a try.

The Facebook advantages: (naming convention pun intended)

1)      They’re not Google. They don’t have to live up to a solid history. They can change things and test without global outcry so far.

2)      Google’s being the crafty veteran is also seen in Internet terms as an old company. Dare I say it; Microsoft-like. And not a place for the younger generation to hang out and converse.

3)      Facebook is about entertainment and interaction. Ever look into the traffic ratings of entertainment sites? It seems we want our entertainment far more than we want to work. (Trending Topics anyone?) This is one of the main reasons Google bought YouTube.

4)      Most Facebook users never logout. Thus eliminating the need to login. (Entertainment remember) If a user has to login to get in touch with all their needs, wants, wishes, desires so be it. Does Facebook log you out after 2 hours on non activity? I don’t think so. Why is that? Average time on site statistics ring a bell?

5)      Facebook’s ever changing design and user interface is what makes it appear different constantly. Pure hell for the companies trying to set up a page, but joy for the user apparently.

Our Facebook page is located at Blackball Online Marketing Pittsburgh. Like it if you can find it.

This is a guest post from Marc Poirier, the founder of Acquisio SEARCH, a search engine marketing software company that develops advanced bid management tools for PPC advertisers.

When most people think of auction-based, online ad networks, they think of Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Microsoft adCenter -- with Google dominating. But there are a lot of other, often niche-based, ad networks that combine contextual and keyword based advertising on an a cost per click (CPC), cost per thousand (CPM), or cost per action (CPA) bidding model. These other networks are known as the second-tier networks, and depending on your advertising goals, these second-tier networks can represent a great source of targeted traffic.

First, a lot of these networks can help you reach new, targeted audiences. After all, many alternative networks will strike deals with publishers that the Tier One networks have limited or no access to -- think newspapers, magazines, and blogs. And most of these publishers have a niche (i.e. pre-targeted) audience.

Second, about only 5% of page views come from search. So if you want to reach the other 95% with your message, you have to spread your ads around.

Third, these second-tier ad networks often offer more competitive CPCs and CPMs, letting you pay much less per conversion.

Finally, you can get a better return on individual campaigns through second-tier networks because they let you tailor your message on a niche-by-niche basis. This lets you determine which messages performs best with what audience, and you can then optimize your campaign on a network-by-network basis.

All this being said, the question remains: So what second-tier networks are worth my while? Well, you'd be surprised just how many of the second-tier networks are associated with trusted, recognizable brand names.

Second-Tier Ad Networks

Now, this is far from an exhaustive list of second-tier networks, but it features some of the more reputable ones. Many of them are also auction-based, and they are all targeted primarily at English language markets.

Ask Sponsored Listings
This search engine's contextual ad network uses a CPC bidding model like its larger counterparts. It is focused on specific verticals, and features publishers such as Excite, Mamma, and Dogpile, as well as other lifestyle and technology portals (e.g. CNET.com). Ask Sponsored Listings also boasts a reach of over 70 million unique users.

AOL Advertising
Formerly known as Quigo AdSonar, AOL acquired this network over two years ago. This network offers contextual advertising via its AdSonar and FeedPoint products. Advertising is sold on a CPC basis, and advertisers can bid for each sponsored placement. AOL's sponsored listings are also available on sites such as The Washington Post, AOL Money and Finance, ABC.com, CNN Money, and FOX News. The network even offers rich media placements.

Facebook Ads
The Facebook Advertising platform lets you target audiences according to a variety of demographic and psychographic criteria. Advertisers can reach users by age, sex, location, education, and other targeted keywords. The ads are primarily text-based, with maximum of 135 characters, and can include a small image. Advertisers can also choose between CPM and CPC bidding options.

LinkedIn Direct Ads
For advertisers looking to target business professionals, there's LinkedIn’s DirectAds. This network boasts a worldwide user base of over 50 million professionals, and lets advertisers target users according to job title, industry, company size, and location. Advertisers also have a choice between CPC and CPM. Even though the LinkedIn network can be a very valuable for reaching certain businesses audiences, however, it’s not always the most affordable. For example, some ad categories feature CPMs of $50 or higher. LinkedIn Direct ads also offer rich media placements, but these are restricted to advertisers whose budgets exceed $25,000.

MySpace MyAds
Advertisers can also "hyper-target" MySpace user through their MyAds system. This network lets advertisers target banners according to users' gender, age, interests, hobbies, education, parental status, and location. Advertisers can choose between CPC and CPM bidding options, and since MySpace MyAds is also part of the FOX Audience Network advertising platform, advertisers can also target users beyond MySpace.

Alternative Ad Styles

The great advantage of online advertising is that it can be both better targeted and measured than other forms of advertising, and second-tier ad networks offer an opportunity to further refine the reach of your campaigns. In addition to targeting your message at niche audiences, you can often find CPCs, CPAs, and CPMs much lower (often due to less competition) than first-tier networks.

All that being said, before investing heavily in a second-tier network campaign, you should first test their traffic with a smaller budget. Doing so will help you both evaluate the quality of the traffic and whether it's appropriate for your offers. And if the traffic is suited for your ad offers, testing out a smaller budget beforehand will also give you an opportunity to optimize your campaigns around that traffic and how you're paying for it – whether it's on a CPC, CPM, or CPA basis.