Google: Facebook is a 'social network of the past'

Google's Bradley Horowitz has chucked down the social networking gauntlet, saying that Facebook is "pissing off users".

He argues that the 'Book has had its day, calling it a "social network of the past" and that its intrusive ads are what is killing it.

Using a slightly laboured analogy of two people chatting while a guy in a sandwich board keeps trying to get them to sell them a sandwich, he said, "I'm trying to communicate in that sacred space of social connection.

"It doesn't matter if I 'Like' the sandwich, it doesn't matter if it's personalised with my favourite mustard, that is the wrong moment to try and dangle [it] in front of me.

"There is a time and place for sandwiches," he added, to soothe sandwich fans' potential ire. "It's called lunch at a restaurant."

Mmm, sandwiches

He added that Facebook's ad strategy of "jamming" ads into people's news streams is "pissing off users and frustrating brands".

Guess who's doing it better? That's right, Google's own social network, Google+. Horowitz says that Google's use of social recommendations rather than straight-up ads is a more "holistic" approach.

That's all well and good but are your friends actually using Google+? The company reckons 100 million people are actively using the network each month but whether they're using it enough to make the recommendations engine work effectively is another story.