Google researches social networking

By Darren Allan

Lately, there’s been a lot of new buzz about Google (if you’ll pardon the pun) orchestrating a social networking project (and a games one, too).

Unlike Google Buzz, which was a bit of a half-hearted dip into the social pool, Google Me is rumoured to be a fully fledged social network with which the company hopes to challenge the might of Facebook.

And it seems like there might be truth in this speculation, as for one thing, Google execs have yet to actually deny it.

And now TechCrunch has unearthed some juicy gossip regarding the search giant making a move to research all things social networking.

According to TechCrunch’s source, Google is setting up some focus groups to study what people want to get from their social network.

Of course, this by no means confirms that Google Me is a real project which is going ahead, but it’s certainly another pointer.

Stacked against the idea, however, is the fact that it almost seems beyond the realm of possibility that a new network could compete with Facebook, entrenched as it is now with half a billion global users, and responsive as it would doubtless be to any new challenger.Techwatch