Google (GOOG) is accustomed to being in the top spot. It leads search and virtually owns the online ad space. Its Google News portal is among the top sites for directing traffic to media outlets. But, the behemoth is starting to feel the feet from social media sensation Facebook.

Not only is the rather young platform stealing market share from Google News, it's now encroaching on its e-mail turf ... a situation that Google isn't taking lightly. To compete more effectively with Facebook, Google is upgrading its Gmail capabilities to include more social media tools reminiscent of those found on its competitor.

Google (GOOG) has generated most of its income from the Ad Words program. When using it, you choose a group of words that you think will come up in an online search. You agree to pay from 1 cent upwards each time your words are clicked upon. Google uses a bidding war technique with its Ad Words program. The highest bidder per word gets to place its website on the top ten of a search page. That program has been fantastic for Google.

At the same time Yahoo! (YHOO) has taken a different road. It chose to offer display ads on search pages. The ads component added to its revenue stream in 2009, making it number one.

Google (GOOG) proudly posted its fourth-quarter numbers on Thursday after the bell, probably assuming it would see a bid once the market digested its performance. But it didn't happen. Instead, the market sold the company on what I would call a very good report. Are you getting the feeling that the bullish sentiment on Wall Street is fading away?

The search giant, feared by both Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo! (YHOO), among others, said it made $6.79 per share on a non-GAAP basis. Which means management grew the bottom line by a more than respectable 33%. According to our earnings preview, the market was looking for $6.43.

A big player in the tech sector is ready to report today. Google (GOOG) will publish Q4 results later this afternoon. Traders and investors alike get super excited when the search behemoth tells the world how it's doing.

I think the company will show that it's doing quite well. According to Earnings.com, expectations peg the per-share profit at $6.43. If that number is hit, then the growth rate will be a solid 26% (last year at this time, Google made $5.10 per share). Of course, most people aren't interested in hitting the projected stat, they want management to rise above it and demonstrate true earnings power.

The New York Times (NYT) has been struggling to figure out the web, which has led to a debate over whether to charge for electrons that has spanned years. Well, the Times seems likely to take the plunge, hoping to replicate the successes of the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal ... except, of course, that the Wall Street Journal is famous for not really delivering profits. Fortunately, the new pay wall is expected to look more like the Financial Times than the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times is considering a "metered" system. Visitors will be able to read a certain number of articles free before being required to subscribe.

A friend of Arthur Sulzberger, according to New York Magazine's Daily Intel, said that the final word could come in a few days, a sentiment corroborated by a newsroom source who said that the plan could be announced within weeks. Yet, plans need to be implemented, so it could take months for the Times to begin charging for content.

The German government recommends using browsers other than Internet Explorer until Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) provides a patch to fix a critical security flaw that allowed a cyber attack against Google Inc. (GOOG).

In a statement posted on its website, Germany's Federal Office for Information Security warned that attacks by hackers "cannot be fully prevented," even if users run Microsoft's browser in safe mode.

The Twitter-verse continues to get interesting. I've always felt that the returns are to be found around Twitter rather than with Twitter itself, and the venture capital community seems to be acting from the same position. Twitter interaction platform HootSuite just announced a new round of venture capital funding, with $1.9 million in fresh money coming in the door to support its growth efforts.

HootSuite, which was started by Invoke Media in November 2008, has evolved into a brand monitoring, file-sharing and social media integration utility. Only a year later, it has attracted more than 300,000 users, from Time (TWX) to Martha Stewart to the White House to Aol (AOL).BloggingStocks is among the Aol blogs using HootSuite.

If Mark Zuckerberg knew then what he knows now ... Facebook would be more like MySpace, which is now owned by News Corp. (NWS). And, he's willing to admit this in public.

In a six-minute on-stage interview with TechCrunch, Zuckerberg went on at length about the social media platform's privacy settings, which have been the subject of unending debate. He says that he'd make more data public by default if he could start Facebook again. Though Zuckerberg cites Internet trends that indicate a reduced concern with privacy, the real reasons are more likely financial.

The New York Times (NYT) is putting its 2.3 million followers to work. It isn't ready to start charging a la carte for Twitter advertising, but it is including the channel in the comprehensive packages it presents to advertisers. And, the Times isn't alone. Several media outlets (including BloggingStocks) have ads running through their Twitter streams, but this is still virgin territory, for the most part, and media companies are still feeling their ways through it.

Facebook could use more older women, not to mention younger people in general. As the company pushes toward what is expected to be an IPO in 2010, it needs to shore up its user base in all demographics, if for no other reason than to diversify against a new social media platform that appeals to a specific community. So, even with the site pushing past 100 million monthly active users according to its advertising tool, with the addition of 5 million in December, there is work to be done if Facebook will make a successful entry into the public market.

Long derided by "serious folk" as a place for kids, Facebook's membership consists mostly of adults. Fifty-six percent of the user base is female, and 60% of users are 25 years of age or above. In fact, 20% of them are at least 45 years old. Some of the groups that are underrepresented are showing rapid growth. Men over 55 grew twice as fast as their female counterparts, though the younger generation moved onto Facebook most aggressively last year. Users age 26 to 34 showed the biggest overall increase in 2009, with 839,000 monthly active users. This represents a substantial shift from the trend earlier in the year, in which it was the later generation flocking to Facebook. Women over 55 didn't jump on the bandwagon as quickly as other groups.

Look, 2009 was a "flush" year. Market rallies were constrained by the low baseline set at the end of 2008, unemployment was high and caution defined nearly every corporate decision. The travel market sucked. The art market sucked. The financial industry labored on with the support of taxpayer money while 140 banks were forced to call it quits. So, we turn to the new year, as yet undefined, for excitement of the type we want ... and it seems likely to deliver. As Nero played from the rooftops, the social media industry inched forward to the climax we hope to see this year -- the initial public offering.

The action hasn't really begun, and the signals emitted are open to various interpretations. Nonetheless, Facebook's new dual-class stock structure is hard to miss, as it would protect the influence of early entrants to the company -- either as investors or options-compensated employees in the event that the 350 million-strong social networking site brings ownership opportunities to the public.

Facebook was busy on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, according to Hitwise, but people weren't playing online games. It seems they were more focused on staying in touch and spreading the usual holiday cheer than tending to their farms, cafes and organized crime battles.

Over the holidays, Facebook was the top Website visited in the U.S., Hitwise reported via its Twitter account. The Web metrics company tweeted the bold statement: "Facebook was the most visited site in the US on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. 1st time the site has been the #1 visited US site ever."

Revenue hasn't been as fast to change as end-user sentiment, but all that looks like it's coming to an end next year. Social networking site Facebook, which passed 350 million users last month, is poised to move ahead of rival MySpace in ad revenue in 2010, according to a report from eMarketer. The research firm expects Facebook to rake in $605 million in ad spend next year, compared to $385 million for MySpace, which is a News Corp. (NWS) property.

According to Debra Aho Williamson, senior analyst at eMarketer and author of Social Network Ad Spending: 2010 Outlook, "As more marketers incorporate social networks in their business, they will no longer look at them as siloed destinations. Instead, they will look to increase the impact of their social network presence by linking it to other marketing initiatives, both online and offline."

The murky waters of the social media space just got a little clearer. An environment famous for having gray areas found boundaries in a Wisconsin courtroom Tuesday when a local teenager pleaded no contest to two felonies.

The student, Anthony R. Stancl of New Berlin, blackmailed more than 30 of his fellow students into committing sex acts by using photos and videos he pulled from their Facebook pages.

Google (GOOG) is looking to expand its reach into the user-generated content market. It's reportedly in discussions with Yelp, a user review and ratings site that covers everything from recruiters to restaurants. The selling price is expected to be more than $500 million ... if Google and Yelp are able to reach a deal.

Will the negotiations go anywhere? As usual, there are no guarantees, and this isn't the first time Google's talked to Yelp about an acquisition. In past years, Google has shown some interest in the site, but this time around, it looks like the action's becoming serious, according to the New York Times.