Google's plot for world domination explained

Facebook is powerful because it can use members' profile data to serve up extremely targeted ads - targeted ads that recently got much more targeted. Facebook can now collect data about user behaviours on non-Facebook sites controlled by Facebook partners, and report that data back to the mothership. And, inside Facebook, the social network's new "Social Ads" turn Facebook users into little sandwich board carriers for major brands. Here's how Facebook describes social ads to potential buyers:

 
"Instead of creating an advertisement and hoping that it reaches the right customers, you can create a Facebook Social Ad and target it precisely to the audience you choose. The ads can also be shown to users whose friends have recently engaged with your Facebook Page or engaged with your website through Facebook Beacon. Social Ads are more likely to influence users when they appear next to a story about a friend's interaction with your business."

So, let's pull this altogether. OpenSocial was about Google maintaining ad dominance in the face of a threat by Facebook/Microsoft. Android and the Open Handset Alliance is about Google not only owning the mobile ad space, but becoming the Microsoft of the next two decades. It wants to own the mobile operating system space the way Microsoft owns the desktop now. It will let Facebook serve up targeted Humungo Video ads in its social network sandbox, while it delivers up geo-specific ads to millions of handsets and mobile computers globally. With a plan like that, you can rule the world.