Is Google Creating a Facebook Killer?

Rumor is that Google is creating a direct social media competitor to Facebook. This rumor has legs, and an identified source, Adam D’Angelo, former Facebook CTO. D’Angelo, who now runs Quora, stated on that site “This is not a rumor. This is a real project. There are a large number of people working on it. I am completely confident of this”. His comments came shortly after Digg founder Kevin tweeted as much (and then had his tweet removed) and even named names, that is, the product is called ‘Google Me’.

Might this rumor be true and if so, will Google be successful going right after the second most popular site on the Internet (yes, Google is first)? Most likely, Google is doing something in this area if not exactly as stated. They have little choice but to do so if for no other reason to create further opportunities for its advertisers and to pre-empt any Facebook effort to combine social media and real search queries, something it has been unable to do well so far despite its deal with Microsoft to power the Facebook search engine, such as it is. Advertisers have yet to really figure out social media but they know it is on Facebook so that is the de facto experimental playing field for them. Google simply cannot take the chance advertisers at some point determine that social search of friends ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ is more valuable than individual search queries.

Google is not a social media virgin by any means. Google has Blogger, Google Waves, Google Profiles, Friend Connect, Latitude and Buzz, all dipping the Google toe into social media but in different parts of the pool. Success ranges from simply adequate to mediocre, or worse. And none of these are tied together in any sense, there is no synergistic model to for multi-level engagement as there is on Facebook.

Never count Google out, they have a lot of smart people, a culture of taking risks and of course, all but print their own money. But it will take a superior social media product and massive marketing and advertising expenditures for them to threaten and surpass Facebook as the social media benchmark. Once again, we in the Bay Area have a ringside seat with our local internet giants trying to carve up the digital world.

 

Google buzz is a bug flop.

 

*goes straight over to Godaddy to see what "GoogleMe" domains I can find,......lol

 

Google will never create anything that will kill Facebook. Google Buzz sure didn't put a dent into any of the Instant Message, Twitter market it thought it was going to conquer.

 

I have heard about this, but I feel that it will hard to get people to switch from something they are used to. However if anyone can beat facebook, it would be Google.

 

Google buzz AND orkut are flops.

 

Probably not, I didn't see Google Buzz have the intended effect that it was supposed to have

 

Yeah, I don't think so either. But it would be very interesting to see what will unfold with these two giants.

 

Google is shooting in all directions in hope something will catch on. As always Google either buys a successful and popular product/service or they try to reinvent the wheel and not imitate something that is already in the market. That's why they create all sort of social projects, wave, buzz, etc. in order to grab the crowds. For now they went after digg / FriendFeed kind of services and not directly against Facebook.

 

Isn't orkut a google product? or do they just use google's login system to help them get users easily... If this is the rumored "google social network that will kill facebook" it's bs, orkut sucks. Honestly 99% of the things google attempts suck. The good things google has: their jobs, their main site, google docs, google translate, analytics (some disagree, but it's the best FREE analytics in my opinion). That's about it.

Rumor: FALSE

 

Yeah, I read that exact text over at examiner.com - http://www.examiner.com/x-54799-SF-...2010m7d2-Is-Google-Creating-a-Facebook-Killer

Whilst Google have all the knowhow to make a platform with the aim of competing with Facebook, whether it will be a "Facebook killer" remains to be seen. As everyone rightly said Google Buzz hasn't exactly set the world on fire. Here's another "Facebook Killer", Diaspora... http://www.joindiaspora.com/

I wouldn't be sure

 

Google Buzz has failed to create any buzz for itself. I do not see them anywhere, leave aside nearing with Facebook.

 

They may, but I am not sure if Google will succeed in social media. The big thing that makes me feel this is Google Buzz. They created google buzz as a copy cat version of twitter. Who cares to buzz these days.

Unless and until their service offers a unique value to users no one would seldom see Google competing with Facebook. All the best Google ! (If you guys are seriously trying something)...!!!

 

people are WAY to buried into facebook. i think G would have to freakin BUY fb!!

 

google is in the quest for world domination and, i guess, more thorough than ellen degeneres. speaking aside, give people work google. don't hoard everything!

 

I don't know if Google can take down Facebook. They would really have to offer a service that goes beyond Facebook in terms of service and features. That being said, I never count Google out until they prove they've failed.

 

My only hope is that google can create a social networking site that is easier to use then facebook, and I hope it includes more privacy features.

I have a facebook account, and I find it very confusing. Simple stuff, like importing my blog feed is confusing. There used to be an option in the control panel to import your feed, but its been removed. Its like the developers at facebook play "here today and gone tomorrow" with certain features.

To be honest, I may never understand "why" facebook has grown to be so popular.

 

It would be such a flop! Facebook has a ridiculous amount of upkeep to deal with, no way google could feasibly support a second wave of social networking if they're aiming to be what facebook was to myspace.

 

I believe Google Me is real but we will all have wait and see if it will indeed be a facebook killer...

 

Honestly, on the internet tell me one popular thing that Google DOESN'T want to have? (Except porn well .. they would probably do that also if it was socially acceptable)