????2011年是Facebook公司歷史上的一個(gè)好年頭。這個(gè)社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)以每幾個(gè)月就增加1億用戶的速度持續(xù)增長(zhǎng)。盡管股市大環(huán)境頗不景氣，其首次公開募股（IPO）依然穩(wěn)步邁向高達(dá)1,000億美元的市值。而最引人關(guān)注的是，它已經(jīng)讓主要競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手谷歌（Google）疲于奔命。

????Facebook已將谷歌的一流工程師招至旗下，對(duì)谷歌的廣告收益也虎視眈眈。更重要的是，F(xiàn)acebook迫使谷歌重新設(shè)計(jì)網(wǎng)頁(yè)，以顯得更社交化，更“Facebook化”。要想知道你是不是在搶對(duì)手的飯碗，最明顯的標(biāo)志就是看看他們是不是在模仿你。

????顯然，2012年對(duì)Facebook就要?dú)埧岬枚?。美?guó)市場(chǎng)的用戶數(shù)量止步不前，廣告收益也不如人意。從某項(xiàng)指標(biāo)上看，它的首次公開募股甚至稱得上華爾街史上最差。上周，F(xiàn)acebook首席執(zhí)行官馬克?扎克伯格表示，公司可能會(huì)引進(jìn)搜索引擎來(lái)創(chuàng)收。

????這簡(jiǎn)直就像硅谷版的《怪誕星期五》（Freaky Friday）：白發(fā)蒼蒼的網(wǎng)絡(luò)巨人和傲慢自大的網(wǎng)絡(luò)新貴彼此交換了角色。社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)用戶增長(zhǎng)1億的是谷歌，市面蕭條的變成了Facebook。（它的市值為480億美元，僅相當(dāng)于谷歌的五分之一。）兩家公司甚至連言論都開始向?qū)Ψ娇待R。拉里?佩奇把谷歌稱作“社交的歸宿”；扎克伯格則說(shuō)：“搜索引擎正朝著給用戶提供一系列答案的方向發(fā)展。比如，我有一個(gè)問題，引擎能幫我找到答案。”

????為什么會(huì)這樣呢？一個(gè)原因是，兩個(gè)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手不可避免地要向?qū)Ψ降念I(lǐng)域發(fā)展，甚至模仿對(duì)方。要想進(jìn)一步了解這一方面的問題，不妨關(guān)注一下智能手機(jī)行業(yè)司空見慣的專利訴訟。【此外，據(jù)《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune）2011年封面故事報(bào)道，兩家公司的專利之爭(zhēng)由來(lái)已久?！?/p>

????更重要的是，不論搜索引擎，抑或社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)，本身都不是上佳的商業(yè)模式。人們蜂擁而至，使用Facebook和Twitter只是因?yàn)檫@類網(wǎng)站是通過朋友和聯(lián)系人發(fā)掘新鮮娛樂方式的一個(gè)好去處。這種情況并不會(huì)讓搜索引擎失去人氣，只是讓人們從網(wǎng)絡(luò)上獲取的內(nèi)容變得更加豐富多彩。所以，谷歌和Facebook會(huì)不可避免地插手對(duì)方的核心業(yè)務(wù)。

????有人認(rèn)為，搜索時(shí)代已經(jīng)過去，網(wǎng)絡(luò)的未來(lái)將屬于社交網(wǎng)站，實(shí)際上這種觀點(diǎn)也開始過時(shí)了。的確，比起搜索框，社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)也許更能吸引人們流連忘返。不過他們點(diǎn)擊那些惱人的廣告所耗的時(shí)間也大大減少了。我們會(huì)去社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)結(jié)識(shí)朋友，去搜索引擎尋找答案。所以盡管搜索行業(yè)即將滅亡的警告不時(shí)可見，但搜索廣告依然表現(xiàn)良好。

????鑒于兩家公司之間凸顯的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)關(guān)系，F(xiàn)acebook想要進(jìn)一步打入搜索行業(yè)的計(jì)劃看起來(lái)就像是遞交了一份尷尬的投降書。不過就像佩奇決心發(fā)展社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)以強(qiáng)化谷歌的全方位服務(wù)一樣，扎克伯格將搜索當(dāng)作促進(jìn)Facebook未來(lái)發(fā)展的一個(gè)收入來(lái)源。考慮到Facebook迄今為止乏善可陳的股市表現(xiàn)，這個(gè)想法看起來(lái)不錯(cuò)。

????加入搜索引擎，這并不是Facebook模仿傳統(tǒng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣告的唯一舉措。幾個(gè)月前，F(xiàn)acebook的廣告競(jìng)價(jià)系統(tǒng)（Facebook Exchange）上線，允許廣告網(wǎng)絡(luò)使用用戶的瀏覽歷史記錄，借以定制用戶喜好的展示廣告，放置在Facebook的新聞旁邊。Facebook的廣告競(jìng)價(jià)系統(tǒng)的工作機(jī)制酷似谷歌的廣告交易平臺(tái)（Google's Ad Exchange），在它的測(cè)試程序中，我們能看到增加廣告點(diǎn)擊率的蛛絲馬跡。

????Facebook和谷歌在其他一些領(lǐng)域也存在競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。比如Facebook的相冊(cè)（Facebook Photos）和谷歌的圖片管理工具（Picasa），F(xiàn)acebook的Facebook Messaging和谷歌的GTalk。此外，兩家公司都在網(wǎng)絡(luò)廣告方面大量使用古老的方式——?dú)v史悠久的展示廣告，這是將近20年前的東西了。

????2011 was a good year for Facebook. The social network was adding 100 million users every few months. It was on track for an IPO valued as high as $100 billion -- despite a dispirited stock market. And, perhaps most impressively, it had its archrival Google on the run.

????Facebook (FB) was hiring Google's (GOOG) top engineers and threatening to siphon off its ad revenue. Significantly, Facebook was forcing Google to redesign its sites to be more social -- that is, more Facebook-like. There is no clearer sign you're eating your rival's lunch than the sight of them emulating you.

????Of course, 2012 has been far crueller to Facebook. User growth stalled in its home market, and revenue growth disappointed as well. Its IPO was, by one measure, the biggest flop in Wall Street history. And last week, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated that the company might introduce a search engine to drive new revenue.

????It's Silicon Valley's version of Freaky Friday: the aging web giant with touches of grey and the cocky upstart have reversed roles. The company adding 100 million users to its social network is Google. The company with the sagging market cap is Facebook. (Its $48 billion valuation is a fifth of Google's.) Both companies have even started to talk like each other. Larry Page describes Google as "a social destination" and Zuckerberg says things like, "Search engines are really evolving towards giving you a set of answers… like, I have a specific question, answer this question for me."

????What gives? One answer is that corporate rivals inevitably bloat their ways into each other's turf, even to the point of copying each other. For a clear illustration of this, look no further than the patent lawsuits that have become a staple of the smartphone industry. (Plus, as Fortunechronicled in its 2011 cover story, the battle has been a long time coming.)

????More importantly, neither search nor social networking is an inherently superior business model. People flocked to social sites like Facebook and Twitter because they were a great way to discover new diversions through their friends and contacts. But it didn't make search less popular. It just added to the flow of content people get from the web. So it was inevitable that Google and Facebook would move into each other's core businesses.

????In fact, the notion that search was dying and that the future of the web lay in social networks is itself starting to look outdated. Yes, people may spend many more hours on a social network than in a search box, but they also spend much less time bothering to click ads. We go to social networks to find people. We go to search boxes to find answers. So search ads -- despite warnings of the demise of search -- have continued to do very well.

????In light of the rivalry that has emerged between the two companies, Facebook's plans to push harder into search may appear like an embarrassing capitulation. But just as Page was intent on moving into social to strengthen its overall offerings, Zuckerberg sees search as one more revenue stream to feed into its future growth. And given Facebook's lackluster stock performance so far, it seems not a bad.

????Nor would adding a search engine be the only move that Facebook has copied from traditional web advertising. Several months ago, Facebook Exchange launched, letting ad networks use the browsing histories of users to target display ads next to their Facebook news feeds. Facebook Exchange, which works a lot like Google's Ad Exchange, showed early signs of improving ad-click rates in its beta program.

????Facebook and Google also compete in several other areas, with Facebook Photos taking on Google's Picasa and Facebook Messaging aping GTalk. And both have made heavy moves into an even more archaic form of web advertising -- the hoary old display ad, introduced nearly two decades ago.