Facebook is just another chapter in the geocities/myspace/facebook sequel, true, they've done a better job than any of their predecessors but they'd almost have to by definition.
One day there will be the 'next' facebook, I doubt we'll see a 'next google' any time soon.
I'm no friend of either company (Google to me is way too opaque given the amount of control they've got) but when choosing between those two the choice for me would be easy.
I think the choice would be pretty close, not something where you could pick without a doubt.
Facebook is definitely not just the social network du jour, just as Google wasn't the search engine du jour when they appeared. (Though people could have claimed with equal plausibility that they were.)
Thus while there may be a "next Facebook" in the sense of the next hot startup, it won't be doing the same thing.
And I feel like I'm a friend of both companies, both in the sense of knowing a lot of people at both, and thinking pretty highly of both. And choosing between the two of them would be hard.
Google is a very mature company with iron control over their monetization, they're in for the long haul. The OP specifically wrote working for google search, which is their core product and that's something that matters when selecting an employer.
Facebook gives me a 'cowboy' feeling and I wouldn't be surprised if in the long term they'll just be another footnote.
I used to think pretty highly of google but their last couple of years have been less then stellar, so I can't see either as a decision without downsides, but overall at least for me google clearly wins out.
Facebook's origins and CEO will forever leave a mark on that company.
Although their growth has slowed, Facebook's still growing traffic at a decent rate, having passed Yahoo for the #2 most visited site last month.
Also, according to Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (ex-Googler who oversaw the creation of AdWords) more than half their users log into Facebook at least once a day. Seems like Facebook's firing on all cylinders to me.
As for that quote above, I meant for that to be in the context of my circle of friends, not the general public. And probably there are an above average number of 'early adopters' in that small group.
Are there any public figures on facebooks 'churn' ?
Facebook is on track to become the #1 most visited web site. I don't think it will hit that milestone only to fail.
The group I'm looking at are all mostly in their 40's or older, my 'sample' doesn't extend far outside that.