Rumor has it it’s true! Google (search engine juggernaut and ubiquitous household name) is launching a new social networking site known as “Google Me.” Apparently a project modeled after the ever successful Facebook.com, the word on the street is that the new site will surpass in innovation its Google designed predecessors such as Buzz and Orkut. While whispers of Google Me’s existence have been heard in online forums for some time now any question as to the existence of the project were seemingly laid to rest recently when former Facebook CTO Adam D’Angelo went on record as stating:
Here is what I’ve pieced together from some reliable sources:
- 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.
Naturally, we still know very little about Google Me, and we know even less about how consumers will react to the new product. But here are some questions for all of you CC Marketers: can anyone in the American market really compete with Facebook for social networking market share? What would Google need to do to sway a healthy chunk of the 500 million Facebookers over to its service?
Here are what some quote / unquote “experts” think.
3 Responses
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lsmaagaard Says:
Read Google’s 10 Things We Know to be True:
http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.htmlGoogle seems to walk the talk and I believe this is why people love Google. This being said, the company could benefit greatly by adding a few more designers and creative types to compliment the strong engineering and analytics that occurs in their organization. To compete with Facebook, GoogleMe would first have to appeal to the primary target market. If this market really liked the product and wanted to switch, they would convince their friends and likely their “Aunts” to follow. I also agree that the Google site would have to be more innovative, creative, beautiful and dynamic to compete with Facebook. A copy of Facebook just won’t cut it at this point; GoogleGo must do more than Facebook and be beautiful and smooth to entice Facebook users to switch. Possibly they will integrate YouTube and make the site more dynamic. I am going to keep watching for this one. I am hearing a lot of good buzz about the Google phone and in this situation; they had to compete with Apple, which rules the world when it comes to beautiful and fluid design. As for Google ruling the world, this fear always exists, but as long as they continue to maintain their 10 Things We Know to be True, well, bring it on!
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Judy Evenson Says:
Rule #2 states, “It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
We do search. With one of the world’s largest research groups focused exclusively on solving search problems, we know what we do well, and how we could do it better. Through continued iteration on difficult problems, we’ve been able to solve complex issues and provide continuous improvements to a service that already makes finding information a fast and seamless experience for millions of people. Our dedication to improving search helps us apply what we’ve learned to new products, like Gmail and Google Maps. Our hope is to bring the power of search to previously unexplored areas, and to help people access and use even more of the ever-expanding information in their lives.”
“Google Me” seems to be less than (or more than) the one thing google does REALLY well – and on a daily (sometime hourly or minute by minute) basis help me find information. Is social networking in the same catagory as search engine?
Fluid and beautiful is ideal – but is it enough, in this case?
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stephenmkelly Says:
Interesting points Judy. There is definitive risk involved in launching a brand into uncharted territory. Social networks are still technology/internet related, but I don’t think anyone thinks of “internet” or “technology” when they hear the word “google.” I think most people think of words like “search.”
On the flip side, Google has been pretty successful with other non-search technologies like Google Maps and Google Earth. Obviously, their Gmail service has also been popular. Maybe, just maybe, they could pull this social networking thing off.
