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# Google Profiles, namespace lock-in & social search
- URL: https://www.chrismessina.me/blog/google-profiles-namespace-lock-in-social-search/
- Published: 2009-04-15T01:26:26.000Z
- Updated: 2009-04-15T01:26:26.000Z
- Author: Chris Messina
- Tags: Citizen-centric Web, Digital Identity, Life online, microformats, Technology, Facebook, google, google profiles, #Migrated-1772262986202, #sqs, #Import 2026-02-27 23:16

I'd originally intended to respond to Joshua Schacter's [post about URL shorteners](http://joshua.schachter.org/2009/04/on-url-shorteners.html?ref=chrismessina.me) and how they're merely the tip of the data iceberg, but since I missed [that debate](http://www.techmeme.com/090403/p71?ref=chrismessina.me#a090403p71), Google has fortuitously plied me with an even better example by [releasing](http://twitter.com/jyri/status/1519835329?ref=chrismessina.me) [custom profile URLs](http://www.labnol.org/internet/vanity-url-for-google-profiles/8202/?ref=chrismessina.me) today.My point is to reiterate one of Tim O'Reilly's ever-prescient [admonishments about Web 2.0](http://radar.oreilly.com/2006/12/web-20-compact-definition-tryi.html?ref=chrismessina.me): **lock-in can be achieved through owning a namespace**. In full:

Consider two things:

- Google's mission is to [organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful](http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/?ref=chrismessina.me).
- Facebook's mission is to [make it easier for people to share and connect](http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=57822962130&ref=chrismessina.me).

Owning the "people" namespace will determine whether people see the web through Google's technicolor glasses or Facebook's more nuanced and monochrome blue hues.Curiously, it has been (correctly) argued that Google "doesn't get social", a criticism that I generally support. And yet, with their move to more convenient profile URLs that point to profiles that aggregate content from across the web ([beating Facebook](http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/12/facebook-getting-serious-about-vanity-urls/?ref=chrismessina.me) [to the punch](http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/14/google-profiles-take-an-important-social-step-with-vanity-urls/?ref=chrismessina.me)), a bigger (albeit incomplete) picture begins to emerge.When I blogged that [my name is not a URL](http://chrismessina.me/s/blog/2009/03/21/my-name-is-not-a-url/img?ref=chrismessina.me), I wasn't so much arguing against vanity or custom profile URLs but instead making the point that such things really should go away over time, from a usability perspective.Let me put it this way: at one point, if you weren't in the Yellow Pages, you basically didn't exist. Now imagine there being several competitors to the Yellow Pages — the Red, Green and Blue Pages — each maintaining overlapping but incomplete listings of people. You're going to want to use the one that has the most complete, exhaustive and easy-to-use list of names, right? And, I bet beyond that, if one of them was able to make the people that you know and actually care about more accessible to you, you'd pick that one over all the others. And this is where owning — and getting people to "live in" — a namespace begins to reveal its significance.

![Google Profile Search](http://img.skitch.com/20090415-eek2c33yxn8dr49iak1xkkrxb1.png)

So, it's telling thing to look at Google and Facebook's respective approaches to their **people search engines and indexes**. Indeed, having a readily accessible index of living persons — structured by their connections to one another — will become a necessary precondition to [getting social search right](http://brynnevans.com/blog/2009/01/30/why-social-search-wont-topple-google-anytime-soon/?ref=chrismessina.me) (see [Aardvark](http://vark.com/?ref=chrismessina.me) for a related approach, which connects to the Facebook and IM portions of your social graph to facilitate question answering).As social search and *living through your social graph* becomes "the norm" (i.e. with [increasing reliance on social filtering](http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/why%5Ffiltering%5Fis%5Fthe%5Fnext%5Fstep.php?ref=chrismessina.me)), Google and Facebook's [ability to create compelling experiences on top of data about you and who you know](http://bokardo.com/archives/google-erosion/?ref=chrismessina.me) will come to define and differentiate them.To date, [Google's profile search has been rather unloved and passed over](http://venturebeat.com/2008/11/03/search-those-google-profiles-you-probably-arent-using/?ref=chrismessina.me), but with the new, more convenient profile URLs and the location of profile search at [google.com/profiles](http://www.google.com/profiles?ref=chrismessina.me), I suspect that Google is finally getting serious about social.Compare Facebook and Google's search results for my buddy, [Dave Morin](http://davemorin.com/?ref=chrismessina.me):**Facebook logged out**:

[![Search Names: dave morin | Facebook](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3623/3444313518_b1a0f2f7bd.jpg)](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3623/3444313518%5Fd99e6fc89c%5Fo.png?ref=chrismessina.me)

****Facebook logged in:**

[![Facebook | Search: dave morin](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3609/3444311902_8caffab909.jpg)](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3609/3444311902%5Fab9eff573e%5Fo.png?ref=chrismessina.me)

****Google [results](http://www.google.com/profiles?q=Dave+Morin&ref=chrismessina.me) (there's no difference between logged in and logged out views):**

[![Dave Morin - Google Profile Search](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/3443521581_17f5b57d90.jpg)](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3354/3443521581%5F11dbfe499e%5Fo.png?ref=chrismessina.me)

Notice the difference? See how much better Facebook's search is because it knows *which* "Dave Morin" is my friend?Now, consider the profile result when you click through:**Dave's Facebook [profile](http://facebook.com/davemorin)**  (logged out):

[![Dave Morin - San Francisco, CA | Facebook](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3575/3444330364_ab4b7d42a9.jpg)](http://www.flickr.com/photos/factoryjoe/3444330364/?ref=chrismessina.me)

(Facebook's logged in profile view is as you'd expect — a typical Facebook profile with stream and wall.)Now, here's the clincher. Take a look at **Google's [profile for Dave](http://www.google.com/profiles/davemorin?ref=chrismessina.me)**:

[![Dave Morin - Google Profile](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3444368676_5e8b3034e5.jpg)](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3352/3444368676%5F23dcbeacf9%5Fo.png?ref=chrismessina.me)

Google is able to provide a much richer and simpler profile, that's much more accessible (without requiring any kind of sign in) because they've radically simplified their privacy model on this page (show what you want, and nothing more). Indeed, Google's made it easier for people to be open — at least with *static* information — than Facebook!So much for Facebook's claim to openness! ;)Of course, [default Google profiles](http://www.google.com/profiles/factoryjoe?ref=chrismessina.me) are pretty sparse, but this is just the beginning. (**Bonus**: both Facebook and Google public profiles support the [hcard](http://microformats.org/wiki/hcard?ref=chrismessina.me) microformat!)And the point is: **where will you build your online identity? Under whose namespace do you want to exist?** (Personally, I choose [my own](https://www.chrismessina.me/).)Clearly [the battle for the future of the social web](http://chrismessina.me/s/blog/2008/05/23/the-battle-for-the-future-of-the-social-web/img?ref=chrismessina.me) is heating up in subtle but significant ways, and Google's move today shouldn't be thought of anything less than the opening salvo in moving the battle back to its turf: **search**.