Google: Social Network? Or is it all a hoax?

There have been rumors going around that Google will soon be coming out with their own social networking site, and with all of the confusion being caused by this rumor, Google has yet to do anything to clear any of it up. For months, there has been online chatter that Google is secretly working on releasing their own social networking site that would focus maybe on gaming, movies or music. But nothing has been definitely stated by Google or anyone that has any legitimate say in what is actually going to happen. Whether it will be called Google Circle or Google Me, it has been called the Facebook killer more than one time.

There was a lot of talk about this happening and that it was going to be called Google Circle at SXSW, the film, interactive and music festival that is now under way in Austin, Texas. But right after, a tweet from @googlesxsw bashed those rumors saying that they weren't launching any such products, but they were doing plenty else. After this, Google's Chris Messina stated that they were not launching its own social network. You would think that this would have been the end of it, but it kept going when Tim O'Reilly, technology pundit, tweeted something that inferred otherwise. He said that it wasn't necessarily a social network or a product, but more of a "research-y thing" that would help you manage social data.

It is being said that whether Google is creating a social network or not, they need to respond to the surge on Facebook and the power inherent in the Facebook business model. Even though it seems as though two companies don't compete directly, they really do. They compete for the users attention and their time.

I think it would be a good idea for Google to launch a social network, but it will be very difficult to compete with Facebook because it is now, probably the leading social networking site available for no charge. They may receive much attention and users mainly based off of their increased reputation for other things, but it still will be hard to compete with other social networking sites. This isn't saying that they won't become successful, though.

Article Name: Have you heard the one about Google going social?
by: Sharon Gaudin
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9214539/Have_you_heard_the_one_about_Google_going_social_?taxonomyId=11