Google is getting close to launching their much hyped “Google Me” social network. This isn’t Google’s first stab at social networking — for example, Orkut (Google’s own Facebook) is a successful website in only a few countries.
Reports from Venture Beat say that Facebook is on “lock down” — basically meaning that all hands are on deck, even weekends, for the next 60 days. Of course, this is just a rumor, and has not been officially confirmed. If this is true though, it surprises me to think that Facebook may be actually nervous about Google’s future product.
When it comes to social stuff, Google doesn’t have a bright track record. Orkut only saw success in small pockets, Google purchased then threw away Dodgeball (the owners of which have since created Foursquare), Jaiku (a Twitter-like service) was purchased then thrown away, and Google Buzz had serious privacy problems at launch which still leave a bitter taste in some people’s mouths.
I personally don’t think Facebook has enough to worry about to warrant “lock down”, but I guess we won’t know until Google finally rolls out their new service. It will be interesting to see if Google Me can get some real traction, and stay away from privacy concerns which seem to be plaguing the company recently.
