It may have been the near infinite number of droid and “Google” phone ads that have peppered the television lately that got me on this train of thought. Why couldn’t there be a “Facebook Phone?” And, what makes Google such a logical choice for phone provider?

If we’re talking about services, then lets compare offerings. True, Google has a stranglehold on the search market, and yes, they make some nifty tools like Google maps that work so well on a GPS enabled phone. Don’t forget about Google mail either, the gold standard for free webmail.

Facebook on the other hand, well, its becoming the hub for everything.

• Real time communication (via Facebook chat and push notification)
• Address book
• Social gaming
• Calendar
• Accounts (via Facebook Connect)
• Photos and Video Sharing

My theory is that Facebook has as much claim to its own mobile device (phone is the logical choice, but technically it could be some other form factor) as Google does.

I believe it is only a matter of time before Facebook search becomes as valuable as Google search. It would be interesting to see a study on this, but I’ve definitely noticed myself using Google search less over the past year as I have been pushed interesting news, content and updates from the sources I care about via Facebook (via facebook page updates, etc).

Would you buy and use a Facebook Phone if it were on a decent carrier? Has Facebook become as essential to your communications as Google?

While Google still reigned supreme in overall traffic, Facebook had been slowly catching up.

Now, Hitwise is presenting data that suggests that over the Christmas holiday, Facebook surpassed Google in traffic. To be clear, that is traffic to facebook.com compared to google.com (not gmail.com, youtube or other google properties).

When you stop to consider just how many people use search (and specifically, Google) this number is astronomical. It just goes to show how powerful Facebook has become.