>You're conflating search engines with all human knowledge contained on the Internet, even though there are many search engines and many alternate ways of finding information on the Internet (not to mention how much of the best information isn't on the Internet).
I am, because all the information on the Internet is useless if you can't find it.
>completely ignoring the astonishing fact that Facebook has signed up a double-digit percentage of the entire world population in a single social network.
Everyone in the world IS a single social network, barring several small isolated tribes here and there. The phone network is a single social network. Email is a single social network. Facebook formalizes and makes access to this network easier, but to a lesser extent than Google makes access to the world's information easier.
>the fact that you can maintain passive contact with networks an order of magnitude greater than what is possible via traditional social channels.
That is a fair point, and I'm certainly not denying that Facebook is useful, but I stand by my assertion. If you could somehow quantify and compare the difference made to society by search engines vs. social networks, search engines have a far larger impact.
Let me put it another way: Google is to the printing press as Facebook is to ???
Yes, Google is nothing without the rest of the Internet, but so is Facebook, so I'm content to run with that comparison even if it's not perfect.
I am, because all the information on the Internet is useless if you can't find it.
>completely ignoring the astonishing fact that Facebook has signed up a double-digit percentage of the entire world population in a single social network.
Everyone in the world IS a single social network, barring several small isolated tribes here and there. The phone network is a single social network. Email is a single social network. Facebook formalizes and makes access to this network easier, but to a lesser extent than Google makes access to the world's information easier.
>the fact that you can maintain passive contact with networks an order of magnitude greater than what is possible via traditional social channels.
That is a fair point, and I'm certainly not denying that Facebook is useful, but I stand by my assertion. If you could somehow quantify and compare the difference made to society by search engines vs. social networks, search engines have a far larger impact.
Let me put it another way: Google is to the printing press as Facebook is to ???
Yes, Google is nothing without the rest of the Internet, but so is Facebook, so I'm content to run with that comparison even if it's not perfect.