The big-picture reason that Google is terrified of Facebook -- and why it's racing to catch up with it -- is that while Google knows more about websites than anyone else, Facebook knows more about people than anyone else. (And, last we checked, people are more interesting than HTML code.)

So here's some more fuel for the fire: Companies are now designing their entire sites around Facebook's social graph. For the latest, check out Clicker's new personalization and recommendation feature, which dominates its new homepage, and is powered by deep integration into Facebook's social graph.

This isn't a simple "log in with Facebook" feature. It's that everyone who goes to Clicker, and is logged in to Facebook, gets an entirely personalized experience based on their Facebook profiles. In this case, the video and entertainment things that they and their friends have "liked" or made part of their profile.

Big sites like Yelp and Pandora did similar integrations earlier this year. And we assume more are coming. (Not to mention giant sites like FarmVille, which are largely Facebook-based.)

You just can't do that with whatever Google's offering right now.

Clicker Facebook screenshot
GOOG Dec 15 2010, 05:20 PM EST
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