Zuckerberg: Facebook is open to Google link

by Tristan O'Carroll, Media Week 29-May-08, 10:45

LONDON - Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has revealed that the social networking site is open to the prospect of working with Google, and is working on a partial site redesign that could lead to new services.

Speaking at the Dow Jones All Things Digital conference in the US, the site's billionaire founder said he envisions potentially working with Google in some way. He cited Google's search engine and its social networks, such as Orkut, which are the "pieces outside of what Facebook does", that could become part of the Facebook platform.

Zuckerberg said: "We talk to Google all the time. They do a lot of interesting things and it would be good to work with them on some things."

However, any tie-up between Google and Facebook might be difficult to push through. Google search rival Microsoft owns a reported 1.6% stake in Facebook.

Zuckerberg added that Facebook is working on a redesign that will allow some of its popular applications to become more accessible. He suggested that Facebook might, in the future, feature functions such as search.

"We're moving the system away from box-based [layout] to applications that are more engaging, that people trust more, moving through the system," added Zuckerberg.