On: Google already knows its search sucks (and is work...

[johnyzee]

So inbound links can be faked but Facebook likes can't? Please.

Also, Google won because of better search, to such an extent that all they needed was word-of-mouth to completely demolish the competition in the late nineties and I don't recall any indications that Yahoo or Altavista couldn't scale their technology. Back then using Google was simply like using a different, infinitely more usable internet.

Finally, anecdotally, Google is a lot more difficult to game than any other search engine. It is pretty clear to me that inbound links carry a lot more weight with Bing and Yahoo, whereas Google includes several other metrics in how to weigh search results (including, fairly or not, significant emphasis on how long a site has been around).

[loumf → johnyzee]

Likes can be faked, but what if Facebook only counts likes in my circle -- or weights them heavily?

The real problem is that likes on pages aren't used enough for them to be useful.

[coliveira → loumf]

Until now, you mean. Facebook is training its users to add everything they like. This counts web pages that you can share, too.