Bangalore: Facebook has plenty of reasons to worry! Google Chrome is improving day by day and is bound to be the number one browser sometime in next 12 months. Adding to this, the number of Google+ users has crossed 170 million and rising.

The recent Statcounter report on browsers showed a 30.9 percentage Chrome usage compared to the 34.8 covered by internet explorer, which is leading the market from a decade. Chrome just achieved this in a matter of three years and is bound to dominate the browser market within no time.

But how is this connected to Facebook, which is essentially a social network and not a desktop software company? Well, the answer lies in Google’s ambitious plans with its social network Google+ 

Google is planning to become the “Voltron” of the web space- i.e. to become the ultimate power train combining its small but strong parts (Gmail, Android, Chrome, Google search and so on). Google+ will be the “spine” of the structure, integrating these products.

Since Google+ is not designed as a standalone product, it can be integrated into any of Google’s products, especially Chrome. Think about it a moment, in a single update, Google could turn Chrome into its own version of Rockmelt! From the next day, Chrome would be a social browser that puts Google+ in front of users before they even type Facebook.com in the address bar.

Do you think Google will never do it? Well, there are already many extensions released that integrate Google+ into Chrome. So it will be just a matter of decision for Google.

What is the role of Facebook?

Facebook may be the king of web now and Google+ hasn’t been able to do anything till now. But don’t forget that browser is still the valley that people should walk through to access the websites. So if Google keep Google+ as a luring fruit in the valley, many will taste it or at least try to touch it, by which it may finally end the dominance of Facebook.

Facebook can fight back by integrating themselves into its investor’s browser, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. But considering the evolution of IE, it will be better for Facebook to build a cool, enchanting browser of its own and use its massive reach of social network to promote it. This may put Google in the defensive. The only question is whether Facebook will take up the battle before it’s too late.