Google’s share of the search space has fallen from 78.72 per cent in May to 78.48 per cent in June according to internet data firm StatCounter. That might not sound like a lot, but Microsoft’s share of the market, meanwhile, has grown to 8.23 per cent – that’s a rise of one per cent since Bing’s launch.

Those might seem like tiny fluctuations, but when you consider we’re talking percentages of the four billion pageloads a month that StatCounter analyses, those tiny percentages become massive figures. Yes Bing has a lot of catching up to do, but the underlying trend is positive. And that can only be a good thing for Microsoft considering the fact that it’s spent close to $100 million dollars rebranding its search engine.

Elsewhere in the world of social media this week, I read on The Telegraph’s website that the future of social networking and online companies trying to turn a profit (according to Kate Burns, vice-president of Bebo) rests on peer-to-peer recommendation rather than search.

Speaking at the Future of Broadcasting conference in London, Kate Burns, a former managing director at the aforementioned Google, said: “I know and understand the power of search. However, social recommendations are the future. They will not only open us up as individuals to the web, but to publishers and social networks, it will offer a relevant and open engagement we didn’t have before.” An interesting insight. Let’s see if her predictions come true. If they do, then that’s two bits of bad news for Google in a week.

When all’s said and done, though, Google’s still one of (if not the) largest companies in the world. And as long as it continues to develop (Google just introduced a website translation tool update that automatically translates the website you’re reading into one of 41 languages), then proclamations of a demise would be seriously misplaced. It’s the competition from little upstarts like, ahem, Microsoft, that pushes Google to bigger and better things. And if Search succumbs to social recommendation sites then you can bet Google won’t be resting on its laurels. So, here’s to the competition. May it continue to push the big boys to bigger and better things. And all the better if they remain free.

Microsoft just showed off Vine, its new Facebook and Twitter-beater in one. It’s a dashboard widget for Windows PCs designed to show groups of friends who’s in the vicinity and what they’re up to. But there’s a more serious side than simply organising impromptu pub crawls.

Microsoft’s trialing its system with emergency services in tow, with its ultimate aim to help track where people are if there’s ever a natural disaster.

Its development was inspired by the confusion following Hurricane Katrina, and lets officials update local users in the event of an emergency. Of course, at the same time they can use it to organise weekly football matches. Or pub crawls. With updates on schedule changes automatically filtering to all involved.

Is it handy? Almost certainly. But Microsoft’s not alone in ploughing the location-awareness furrow. Twitter has the capacity to tag tweets with a geographic location, and new micro-blogging platforms such as AudioBoo integrate location data as a matter of course.

Even Apple is hopping aboard. The next version of its OS X operating system will include location awareness.

But Google could be about to squash the lot of them. Its Latitude technology will share your location with friends through a web browser on any computer, and it’s built into all new Android mobile phones too, as well as being prepped for the iPhone.

So where’s it all heading? My hunch is there’s a ton of money to be made from location-aware ads. Forget country-specific ad campaigns, with this technology advertisers could get down to street level. Searching for a restaurant on your phone? The nearest Cafe Rouge, Harvester or Bernie Inn could grab the space next to your search results, and pay mightily for the privilege.

Of course, sharing your location will never be compulsory, but with so many tech firms weaving it into their products it’ll soon become standard practice, and if you’re not visible on the map, people will start to wonder: what exactly are you up to? Big Brother isn’t just watching, he’s talking behind your back and selling you to the highest bidder.