Coincidence? Not likely. How satisfying it must have been for Redmond to block Google’s entrée to Facebook at such a time. Didn’t seem to faze Google much though–as unaccustomed to playing the role of a runner-up as it might be. Perhaps that’s because Microsoft’s deal doesn’t appear to include search-based advertising, which could present Google with a significant opportunity in the future.

Perhaps it’s because Google feels Microsoft overpaid. Said Schmidt, “Some competitors are clearly willing to spend larger amounts of money beyond their ability to monetize.”

Or perhaps it’s because of Facebook’s “faddish nature,” which Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was pointing out just a few weeks back. After all, Zuckerburbia ain’t the only social-networking game in town. “There are plenty of companies using the notion of social community,” said Schmidt. “It is pretty obvious people will be members of multiple networks; which is why our world won’t collapse with any one network.”

What’s going on here? Who knows. But it might be time for the company to stop reading its press and start thinking seriously about taking some of the cash being flashed its way.

“Facebook has an enormous opportunity, and if the company doesn’t blow it, it could be worth every bit of $15 billion,” writes Silicon Alley Insider’s Henry Blodget. “Part of not blowing it, however, means playing the odds, and when investors are literally begging you to take their cash (as they appear to be), the odds almost always favor taking some of it. Why? Because the economy might weaken tomorrow, taking Internet advertising spending down with it. Because a competitor might develop an interesting solution that [CEO Mark] Zuckerberg might want to buy. Because the stock market might crash, converting Facebook’s $15 billion valuation into $5 billion (or less). Because Zuckerberg might do something stupid (sorry–this has to be considered a possibility). Because in all of these cases and more, it would be nice to have $500 million in the bank.”

In an interview with the Times Online, Ballmer didn’t seem so sure Zuckerburbia deserves the jaw-dropping valuation given it. “There can’t be any more deep technology in Facebook than what dozens of people could write in a couple of years,” he said, noting that GeoCities, a community site acquired by Yahoo for $3 billion in 1999, offered much of what Facebook offers today. “I think these things are going to have some legs, and yet there’s a … faddish nature about anything that appeals to younger people.”

And that’s a truism worth noting. Before Facebook, there was TheGlobe.Com and before Mark Zuckerberg there was–shudder–Stephan Paternot.