“Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch facebook competitor very soon “Google Me”, very credible source.” was what a tweet read from the Digg founder Kevin Rose recently. Could this be a brand new social feature from Google or perhaps a combination of the existing ‘Orkut’ and ‘Google Buzz’. Experts suggests even a combined package of Orkut and Buzz alone could claim a customer base of nearly 200 million, already amounting to nearly a half of Facebook’s.
Not official yet
First of all there is no official announcements regarding ‘Google Me’ yet. Since this is supposed to be a Facebook competitor, Google probably would attempt a sudden launch in order to take Facebook by surprise. Nevertheless ‘Google Me’ has to compete for a market share of a market mostly created by Facebook itself. Regardless of the reputation of Google, the new social network component will have to prove itself first.
Facebook shaken? Probably not…
With over 400 million users, Facebook probably are not bothered in the least bit. However it all depends on what Google puts forward in the way of ‘Google Me’. If Google somehow manages to sway its Gmail users away from Facebook towards ‘Google Me’, then possibly Facebook might have something to think about.
What to expect
While some suggest a combination of Orkut and Buzz, few feel a developed version of Google profiles would come out as ‘Goofle Me’. Which ever one it is, or even a brand new Google component, no doubt will have a ton of features probably integrated into Gmail/Google mail just to make things worse to Facebook.
Competition or go along?
Competition no doubt brings the best out of rivals. However competition is not always the best method to follow. The problem here is, the credible source of Kevin Rose has specifically mentioned a rivalry of ‘Google Me’ against Facebook. While such rivalry could bring the best out of Google, consumers on the other hand may not be requiring anything against Facebook at the moment. At the end of the day all depends on what people like. Currently Facebook is being loved by the masses.
People are overwhelmed with social apps already
With the limited time that they have, average web-centric people are overwhelmed with social networking apps. The last thing they want is another place to update their status. Typical consumers of Facebook would not totally abandon accounts because of the existing networks around them, yet they may chose to use other web 2.0 apps, keeping Facebook as the primary source of networking.
What exactly is ‘Google Me’ comprised of, nobody knows yet except Google itself. In fact Google will have to come up with something phenomenal to get Facebook thinking, at least. With Facebook having millions of networking groups, pages, applications, users and businesses, ‘Google Me’ referred to as a Facebook killer is a bit exaggerating for the time being.
