Pre-Fight: In the red corner we have Google, email and search engine extraordinaire and in the blue we have the social media mogul Facebook. Who knows how long the battle will last? Most likely well over the 12 round mark. Both have the stamina and the potential for a knockout blow. The first hit came from Facebook with a right hook to the email service jaw of Google. Google swung back with an uppercut into the social media network stronghold of Facebook Now I’ve run out of puns I can get down to the business of what is going on out there in the cloud. Round 1: The First Heavy Blow The debut fight really started with Facebook’s Project Titan, internally known as the ‘Gmail killer’. It incorporates the world’s most popular photos product, the most popular events product and a very popular local deals product as well. It can tweak the design of its webmail client to seamlessly display content from each of these (and don’t forget messages from games, or payments via Facebook Credits). Plus Facebook are already clued up to your social habits.  They know who your friends are and how closely you’re connected to them; so it can probably do a pretty good job figuring out which personal emails you want to read most and prioritise them accordingly.   Round 2: Google + Google Plus is Google’s second foray into the social networking world. Their first attempt - Google Wave - crashed and burned. Plus plays the game safer than Wave and is not that different from Facebook and Twitter – it’s a slight change, and could be a slight improvement. Google is a dab hand at making things simpler, both in look and functionality. Google Plus is no different.  So lets have a little look at some of their innovative ideas. One key element of Google Plus is a focus on targeted sharing within subsets of your social group, which are what Google calls Circles. Circles are simply small groups of people that you can share to, each with names like friends, family, classmates and co-workers. Created by the user for the user’s privacy and benefit. Google has also created a section specifically for viewing, managing and editing multimedia. The photo tab takes a user to all of the photos he or she has shared, as well as the ones he or she is tagged in. It’s not just photo tagging though: Google Plus includes an image editor (complete with instagram-like photo effects), privacy options and sharing features. Which also shows the potential of their PC offering Chromebook that uses only programs up in the cloud – i.e. no desktop! Another innovative idea is ‘hangouts’, Google’s new group chat feature. Instead of directly asking a friend to join a group chat, users instead click ‘start a hangout’ and they’re instantly in a video chatroom. At the same time, a message goes out to their social circles, letting them know that their friend is ‘hanging out’. Friends can then join the hangout.   Round 3: Facebook I recently read a post that described the business ethos of Facebook. It was summed up as a ‘hacking culture’ - which means they ‘move fast and break things’. Right at the heart of the brand is the courage to be able to throw away something good in order to arrive at something great. Which means regularly challenging assumptions. ‘Hackathons’ are run regularly at Facebook where they come up with new product development ideas, and employees are given total freedom to improve the site. Facebook chat and the Like button were both innovations to come from this forum Users regularly complain about Facebook changes.  Two million users joined a protest group called ‘We want our old news feed back’ back when Facebook had 12million users. But is ‘hacking’ simply an excuse to implement another company’s good ideas, when they appear to have stolen a march? Right now, Google seem to be upping the innovation stakes. Google plus has introduced the +1 button.  It threatens to beat the Facebook like button, because as well as the ‘like’ advantages; it allows friends to annotate why the have shared a certain link. Google Plus appears to be doing more for users keen to indulge in ‘sharing’ and has a host of collaborative features using programs up in the cloud. Some people will be adverse to getting on Google Plus.  And whether any loyal Facebookers will make the switch really remains to be seen. But Facebook aren’t resting on their laurels. Anybody who is into the social media side of life will have watched the Facebook f8 conference this month. There are to be some massive changes to your account as of the 29^th. The first big change to mention is Timeline, it is your profile rebuilt from the ground up; it basically shows your life span on Facebook on a single page. It has a cleaner look and feel too. However, is it all just a bit too personal, a touch too much information and is anything sacred anymore? A recent change you may have already noticed is Ticker which is a light weight version of what people are doing. Activities are sent to here however if you post anything of importance your friends will take much more notice, or at least have the ability to. The second big development is the way you connect and share. You’ll no longer need to ‘like’ something or be prompted to share what you have just watched. With the new apps enabled, content will feed directly into your timeline as a  ‘Frictionless Experience’. It also allows you to see what your friends are doing in ‘real-time serendipity’. So if a friend is listening to a track in Spotify you can listen to it with them. It sounds like a massive development, and it is. However, is it a step in the right direction? Where Google Plus is majoring on privacy and control, Facebook is moving towards liberal sharing practices.   Round 4: When’s the next round? So really it all comes down to ‘how saturated is the world of social media?’ And how easy are Google making it for me to switch, if the crowd wants to head to Google am I inclined to follow? Personally, I think your current email preferences have the biggest pull.  If you feel secure with your existing email provider, you are probably less likely to setup shop with anyone else, and you’ll bide your time until the extra features inevitably arrive.  Social networking, by the very nature of modern society is probably much more fickle.  I’ll go where my friends go.  I’ll hang out at the latest hot spot, if I know enough of my mates are doing the same. So back to my main metaphor.  Who will deliver the knockout blow? Will the social media giant kill the world’s favourite search (and email) superhero?  Or visa versa? Both are super heavyweight e-contenders. But my guess is that it will be long fight and the end is not yet in sight.