There has been a rumour circulating that search engine giant Google are to launch their own social media site, 'Google Me', according to techcrunch.com, one of the top ten most popular blogging site on the internet.
Google has been recently conducting hour long focus groups at their EMEA headquarters offices in Dublin. The groups are asked a vaiety of questions regarding the impact of social networking on their lives both on and off the internet, with a pervasive interest in the way people interact with friends and family.
The rumour started when Digg CEO Kevin Rose claimed that a reliable source had informed him of Google's social networking ambitions. Following on form this, the presentation given by Google's lead user experience researcher Paul Adams has only added to the growing belief that 'Google Me' is definitely in the pipeline.
Google has been recently conducting hour long focus groups at their EMEA headquarters offices in Dublin. The groups are asked a vaiety of questions regarding the impact of social networking on their lives both on and off the internet, with a pervasive interest in the way people interact with friends and family.
The rumour started when Digg CEO Kevin Rose claimed that a reliable source had informed him of Google's social networking ambitions. Following on form this, the presentation given by Google's lead user experience researcher Paul Adams has only added to the growing belief that 'Google Me' is definitely in the pipeline.
Adams, in his critique of the changing face of the internet, details the shift in the ways in which people use and engage with the world wide web. He describes the internet as a web of people as opposed to the web of documents it began as. Furthermore, he discusses the complex networking structures of humans who, despite the potentially vast number of connections they have, communicate regularly with only 15 people on average.
The similarities between the theme of Paul Adams' post and the content of the focus group surveys conducted by Google, all against the backdrop of Kevin Rose's rumour, have convinced many that the possibility of a Google venture into social networking is a reality.
This revelation comes at the same time that news of Google's failure to reach the predicted profit levels expected of them caused their share prices to fall by over 4%. Despite recording larger profits in the last quarter compared with this time last year, the focus was very much on the corresonding, and perhaps disproportionate rise in operating costs.
Perhaps then, this is a period in which Google are looking to re-invest their profits into the expansion into new areas, such as social networking. Of course, many would expect this to be the icing on the cake for the search engine firm, whose dominance is unrivalled in their own field.
The additional advertising opportunities and revenue which would be generated by a move into social media would be sizeable. Furthermore, and as the vast majority of US and UK SEO experts would agree, the SEO benefits would be just as significant, with social media an excellent platform for the optimisation of search driven traffic through its ability to provide engines with accurate and highly personalised information about individuals.
Although, it may not be any time soon that we witness the launch of this particular product. It seems that Adams' general tone, and perhaps that of Google if his post is reflective of their stance, is one of caution, with a determination to analyse the market thoroughly before jumping on the social media bandwagon.
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