According to the Wall Street Journal, Facebook is gearing up for a major marketing push designed to get users to make their Facebook wall their default home page. The article says that the move is a shot across the bow at Google, which is recognized as one of the most popular home pages for individual users.
ComScore data shows that Facebook currently is the home page for roughly six percent of all Internet users. Data isn’t available for Google home pages, but the number is considered to be considerably higher. One industry expert said that the move by Google is being done with advertisers in mind.
“This is part of the larger battle for online digital supremacy,” said eMarketer analyst Noah Elkin. “Both Google and Facebook want to make their services the gateway for all their users communications needs.”
Facebook is also rolling out a new messaging service, with the hopes that it will eventually compete with integrated email and messaging systems from Google, Yahoo! and other major providers.