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Google Me Rumors Continue To Mount, We Continue To Get Excited

Google Me Rumors Continue To Mount, We Continue To Get Excited

facebook googleOn June 26th I reported that Google Me, a new social network from Google was in the works. During that announcement I quoted Digg founder Kevin Rose who leaked the announcement, today we have further confirmation of the Google Me program.

The full-fledged competitor has been outed further by former Facebook CTO Adam D’Angelo who said during a Quora Q&A session that Google Me is very real:

“This is not a rumor. This is a real project. There are a large number of people working on it. I am completely confident about this.

They realized that Buzz wasn’t enough and that they need to build out a full, first-class social network. They are modeling it off of Facebook.

Unlike previous attempts (before Buzz at least), this is a high-priority project within Google.

They had assumed that Facebook’s growth would slow as it grew, and that Facebook wouldn’t be able to have too much leverage over them, but then it just didn’t stop, and now they are really scared.”

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Google hasn’t been all that successful in the social networking market as of late, with Orkut popular only in select countries and pretty much all of South America and Buzz failing to gain Twitter type traction after launching with privacy issues at the forefront of the system. However it’s not to say that Google doesn’t have the tools necessary to build a popular social system. In fact Google Open Graph technology has been around for a much longer period than Facebook’s own recently announced system and Google has a large enough infrastructure to build out any type of system they can dream up.

It’s interesting to think that Google would be copying Facebook, after all isn’t Facebook largely a copy of various technologies that have been around for long periods of time. From Twitter to Google Bookmarks, Facebook isn’t something new, it’s just something that’s been better put together than its competitors.

In any case, the fact that Google is putting a ton of workers behind Google Me is a good sign. It might not be Facebook, but alternatives can only work to strengthen the market over time. However if Google fails to gain against Facebook it may be a long time before any real viable type of system is created.

View Comments (9)
  • Facebook seems to have a lot of technical issues that only a giant like Google may be able to handle. If anybody can handle 500 million online users, Google should.

    I’ve been impressed with GMail and now Chrome, so I think eventually Google will get it right and displace Facebook. But isn’t Facebook just another long line of fickle online mobs, going back to GeoCities, and Friendster or MySpace, that eventually move on?

  • If Google Me will be a successful Social network site, then this can spell the down fall of Facebook. It’s like a cycle.. something better always comes along them the guy at the top starts to fall.

    Friendster > My Space and others > then came Facebook which tool all the like out of every social networking sites.

    The only thing that makes people hold on to facebook is their ability to integrate the apps within the Facebook platform. Which is just a piece of cake for google engineers. Orkut was create by just one person, imagine what 5, 10 or even 100 Google engineers can create when you put them all together. Of course facebook will not be sitting on it laurels… I’m sure that FB are always innovating on their products, if there’s still a way to innovate the current Facebook service. Probably improve on their Privacy issues. :)

    I did create a poll on which social networking sites people are using. so far Facebook is winning. :)

    http://www.teknisyan.net/2010/06/poll-which-social-media-network-are-you.html

  • I agree, Google needs to move in, FB is slowly becoming a haven for anonymous sh!thead racists who’re just there to bash others

  • I think this would be great, Facebook has taken over social media, Hopefully Google me will everything facebook was meant to be. With Googles Chrome, Gmail, Maps, Analytics etc, it seems like the right path for Google to be in.

  • This can be only good news. I like many am tired of Facebook and a fresh approach will be more than welcome. Even if Google are taking over the world!!

  • I didn’t know Orkut is a Google based network, I’ve heard about it, but only on times where I was searching for Brazilian related items, makes a lot of sense now. I’m quite curious as to how Google Me will turn out.

  • Nice post. I do agree with the post that buzz is failing and Google need to make something new for social networking.

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