Rumor: Google is building a Facebook competitor

...something other than Orkut

[StoutFiles]

Is Google prepping to launch some kind of Facebook-killing service? That's the rumor of the day, spawned by a brief Twitter update by Digg founder Kevin Rose.

According to Rose, the new service is going to be called "Google Me," and it will—in some way—offer up a social profiling functionality that could rival Facebook's.

[pcmag.com...]

Naturally Google loathes Facebook and would love to have their traffic back. I doubt it can compete since people have invested so much time in Facebook, but if Google made this social site more about privacy(it won't, we're talking about Google here) then you never know.

Good luck Google, try not to fall on your face like you did with Orkut, Wave, and Buzz.

[Mark_A]

Surely building a facebook competitor is to be a follower, what they should build is the next best biggest thing.

Do people get rich being followers?

[Mark_A]

Well it is increasingly wanting us to log in, for adwords, adsdence, custom images in search, analytics, whatever next. But but, didn't a certain Yahoo already go here? some time ago.

[LifeinAsia]

Do people get rich being followers?

Actually, yes. FB is itself little more than a follower of several other similar social networking sites that never made money. FB added additional functionality, which helped make it successful. They also had good timing.

So if Google can add some other type of "FB-killing" functionality, then they may have a shot. But if they just rehash what's already there? Probably not.

[StoutFiles]

[gizmodo.com...]

This is now not a rumor.

[Mark_A]

How many of these type of sites can there be?

[Mark_A]

Wasn't this kind of yahoo's downfall, trying to be all things to all people?

Are google to go the way of Yahoo?

[cien]

The problem with Google is that they are Jack of all trades, master of none. It will fail. Their OS will fail too. Chrome browser is a crashing joke only used by webmasters and the really web savvy. Their search engine has turned into a joke.

[londrum]

it will be tough to dislodge facebook because everyone already uses it.

its like the telephone... theres no point buying one if all your best mates don't, because who you gonna call?
if all your friends are already on facebook, then why would you move.

[Staffa]

If they pull it off and launch something to rival FB would it surprise anyone that sites with FB links/logos suddenly drop in the SERPs ?

[Tropical Island]

It's too late!

It's like Buzz on Gmail ? What's with that?

I've disabled it.

Yes, I have FaceBook. Would I sign up for something else - not likely.

I love Google, Google chat, Gmail, Documents & most everything else but will not add to my social commitments.

[StoutFiles]

The problem with Google is that they are Jack of all trades, master of none. It will fail. Their OS will fail too. Chrome browser is a crashing joke only used by webmasters and the really web savvy. Their search engine has turned into a joke.

Last time I looked they were still the master of the search engine. And the master of online advertising. If you want to see a joke of a search engine though, check out Cuil.

[arizonadude]

Google’s mindset is people will use it because it’s Google. They have not accepted the fact the Buzz flopped not to mention they no longer have the “Good Will” of the searching public. People are very suspicious of the privacy issues with Google and rightfully so.

I doubt anybody who is a serious Facebook user with lots of friends is going to use anything Google puts out to compete with it.

They are several years too late to the party and it will flop just like Buzz did.

They used to be the best at search and now that is debatable depending on how much of a fanboy the person you’re debating it with is.

I use Bing now for everything I search for and have not had any problem finding what I need always on the first page.

Google is no longer going to be the dominate player in search within a few years. They have hit their zenith and are now starting the slow arc downward to mediocrity.