Ahem, you may be too pessimistic. I actually like the fact that Google is challenged on social content. When you have so many great people and you are challenged on an issue, it can give interesting results.
For instance, I am no fan of most of the changes in search (eg. Instant, Snippets) but I think that adjusting search result rankings to the "+1" of my circles is a big deal in long term. It makes "+1" an actually useful button. I now start using it as "intelligent bookmarking". Except if you believe in near future people will search Internet through Facebook or will not search at all, which I don't, then this little "+1" feature is a big leverage against Facebook.
Google are also challenged by Amazon with their platform, and I would be surprised if they did not prepare some thing on this side. It is just that, with Buzz and Wave, they learnt that one big company like them is not a start-up and therefore can't "release early, fail quickly, iterate" (as so often advocated here on HN). So we, observers, would better be patient.
Don't forget Chrome. It seems to me that this is an incredibly fast entrance in browser market, and really did shake things up, for the better. If Google, through its browser and mobile OS, find a way to make life much easier for open social network users, Facebook may have to comply. It would not be stupid for Facebook to be open, they would still have the biggest number of users, and their revenue should not drop just because they allow other social content provider to access their data openly (as long as they continue offering a good user experience).
For instance, I am no fan of most of the changes in search (eg. Instant, Snippets) but I think that adjusting search result rankings to the "+1" of my circles is a big deal in long term. It makes "+1" an actually useful button. I now start using it as "intelligent bookmarking". Except if you believe in near future people will search Internet through Facebook or will not search at all, which I don't, then this little "+1" feature is a big leverage against Facebook.
Google are also challenged by Amazon with their platform, and I would be surprised if they did not prepare some thing on this side. It is just that, with Buzz and Wave, they learnt that one big company like them is not a start-up and therefore can't "release early, fail quickly, iterate" (as so often advocated here on HN). So we, observers, would better be patient.
Don't forget Chrome. It seems to me that this is an incredibly fast entrance in browser market, and really did shake things up, for the better. If Google, through its browser and mobile OS, find a way to make life much easier for open social network users, Facebook may have to comply. It would not be stupid for Facebook to be open, they would still have the biggest number of users, and their revenue should not drop just because they allow other social content provider to access their data openly (as long as they continue offering a good user experience).