Google MySpace - Search Domination

Not that long ago I wrote a post about several changes that were going on at MySpace. Apparently, the Google search bit of my post turned out to be correct, with the website now completely Googlized in the search area. With the $900 million search advertising deal now coming into effect, both sides are feeling the profits roll in.

The Differences?

Not many, truth to tell. Apart from a little, fairly unobtrusive Google logo showing up on every MySpace.com page, and people’s profiles. Some layouts though, have been feeling the pain because they had to be completely re-designed to accommodate the new search box and logo. Now that the old Overture advertising links have had their place taken by the all superior AdSense, many users are happier with MySpace. From the deal, the company has made millions, Google no doubt will also, and the people are happy. What more could be wanted?

The Pros & Cons

Pros? There are plenty of them. More relevant searching (now categorized for extra functionality) and speedier service are just some of the welcome remasterings that make the deal worth it.

Of course, some people will always dislike Google and its products. Some complain the search is glitchy and shows un-related adverts. What has been proven though is the problem it is having, conflicting with some layouts. Not many admittedly, but the number large enough to be of a concern. In the mean time, a work around has been posted here. No word from the MySpace people yet, on whether or not it’s acceptable stuff, but till they tell us whether we can or can not use it, we must assume we can not. Just to be on the safe side like usual. If the coding is unacceptable, no doubt MySpace will take that page down anyway and issue warning to the users using the code. We all know that in the past MySpace banned users from stripping out ads from pages. Will the ad-supported search be viewed similar? I guess so. 

Analysis & Integration

It all flows smoothly, looks great and has a nice, clean feel to it. The categorized searching and integration means that the whole internet is your playground, with the web, MySpace, profile pages, music, music videos, blogs, MySpace Video, events and all the other MySpace related goodies being directly accessible from within a single search. Who will reap the real benefits? A story that only time will tell. This is the Internet. The unexpectedness thrives here. Judging by Google’s pay package through this last quarter, $900 million isn’t that much in comparison anyway. It looks like Google cut a fairly large piece of the pie anyway.

MySpace is widely regarded as one of the, if not the very best, social networks. I agree with this statement, but have always felt that the advertising is a little overdone. This deal gives us some breathing room (white space, not covered by adverts) and promises a cleaner, faster search. At the end of the day, all in all, nobody is complaining. MySpace makes money. Google makes money. Users are happy. Code junkies get to have an anti-search box scripting party, and bloggers and journalists get something interesting to write about. I’ll be watching this one very carefully!

Sourced from Mashable.