In the latest chapter of the Google v Facebook battle Facebook has admitted hiring a ‘dirty tricks’ PR firm to smear Google and promote fears that it compromised users’ privacy.

It was inevitable these two giants were going to clash as both rely heavily on advertising revenue. Google is the Worlds largest advertising company and Facebook’s popularity drives millions of visitors to it’s website. If Facebook can get the advertising model right then they could be a huge threat to Google’s dominance however, their latest tricks seem to point at attacking the competition rather than using their superior customer data to enhance their own offering.

Facebook (or a site using a similar model) will overtake Google within the next 3-5years however, this will be based on additional value for advertisers and not on a dirty tricks smear campaign.