• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, July 7, 2011

There's no way to know whether Google+ will catch on as a new social network -- sorry, make that a "suite of social media tools" -- given Facebook's current domination of the social scene. But at the very least Google deserves credit for raising the bar in social media, forcing Facebook to keep up in key areas like video chat.

With Google+ hogging the spotlight last week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg tried to steal some attention back by promising to unveil an "awesome" new feature this week, which turned out to be a partnership with Skype that will allow one-to-one chats, and probably group chats in the near-ish future.

The timing and substance of the announcement can't be coincidental, in light of the fact that flexible video chat was touted as a central feature of Google+ during the unveiling last week (it also lends new significance to Microsoft's acquisition of Skype, announced in May; the new Skype integration will deepen Facebook's relationship with Microsoft, which is already Facebook's exclusive search engine provider through Bing).

While a number of Facebook apps already offered one-to-one (and group) videoconferencing, the Skype integration should put these tools at the disposal of all Facebook users with just one or two clicks, streamlining and simplifying the process. Widely accessible video chat may not have immediate ramifications for marketers and advertisers, but "in the long term, it will mean Facebook, already the No. 1 place for online word-of-mouth, will be a crucial platform for marketers to engage customers, whether it's through video chat with fans or through new partnerships they form with Facebook on their own," according to Forrester analyst Sean Corcoran.

In my humble op-ed the real news here is that -- even without an established presence or substantial number of members -- Google+ has succeeded in making its presence felt with these new, improved features, forcing Facebook to up its game in response. True, Google+ still looks a lot like Facebook, and it faces an uphill battle in wooing Facebook users away; but if it keeps pressure on Facebook to constantly improve its products, it will be a success story (of a sort) regardless.