The “war” between Facebook and Google is old news that’s new again. For the past week, Google+ is making headlines as Google tries (again) to enter the social media arena… and social media bloggers are embracing the battle metaphors.

Now, we managed to snag an early invitation to Google+, and we plan to keep you posted about it. But the specifics of the product aside for just a moment, let’s talk about the fight itself.

but those early skirmishes over privacy and search look like blanks-firing historical re-enactments compared to what’s happening on the social media front lines today.

(See that? We can throw down war metaphors with the best of ’em.)

In a Forbes article we generally disagree with, Adam Hartung (who clearly doesn’t see the possibilities in Google+ that we do) conjures ancient Rome:

Google Plus will be in a gladiator war, where everyone gets bloody and several end up dead. NewsCorp is finally exiting social media as it sells MySpace for a $550m loss (see NewYorkTimes.com “News Corporation Sells MySpace for #35 Million“) – clearly a body being drug from the coliseum!

We hate mixed metaphors. (Not to mention lousy grammar. Bodies are dragged, not drug, and we feel someone who gets paid to write should know that. Just sayin’.) Gladiators only went to “war” after they escaped from slavery and being forced to fight for the entertainment of others. And while victory in the coliseum offered a slim chance of freedom, the gladiators who escaped and went to war… well… lost badly.

No… when we think of the Google/Facebook War, we think Braveheart.

“Are you ready for a war?” Yes, William. We are.Sure, both companies are enormous – so enormous it might be hard to see either of them as any kind of underdog. But when it comes to social media, Facebook is the undisputed English overlord. And Google, multi-billion-dollar-entity or not, is the band of ragtag rebels fighting for existence.

We were a little disappointed to see TechCrunch come at the war story from the same angle. (Before we got to it. Heh.)

But while MG Siegler offers an interesting and informative piece, alongside a picture of certain blue-faced brawlers, he’s also mixing his metaphors:

Google and Facebook are at war. This is old news. They both want to be the center of the Internet — but there can be only one center.

Or maybe he’s not mixing his metaphors, but his Scotsmen.

You can either be impressed that we recognized that out-of-context line from the Highlander movies… or just accept it as proof that we’re hopeless nerds. As you like. Either way, that comparison doesn’t work for us either. The social media battle will not be won by one player lopping off everyone else’s head to claim the prize.

Nope. We’re sticking with Braveheart.

Because when we visualize the war for social media supremacy, we keep seeing scenes like this in our heads… with Google+ as the bedraggled rebel army, charging forward despite the odds against them.

And that fella on the horse, the one with the crown… We see him as “The Most Popular User On Google Plus” — Facebook’s own Mark Zuckerburg.

Looks a little concerned, doesn’t he?

He should be.