A lot can be deduced about the recent developments in Google’s online empire that past couple of months. New product launches, new features of current web properties, a social movement among other things which could lead to a probable conclusion that Google maybe developing itself to be the ultimate social networks of all social networks.
It all started with the launch of the open social alliance which others have thought would be the ultimate killer of all social networks but is actually Google’s attempt at attracting third party developers to inter-mingle with fellow developers under Google’s umbrella.
Then the Open Handset Alliance was announced, which others thought was an announcement on the much anticipated Google phone. But apparently it was not. The Open Handset Alliance is an open platform for mobile handset applications development. Google’s other attempt at attracting minor mobile industry movers into its fold.
These two big announcements were followed by some other product improvements such as the further globalization of customer search, the integration of AIM contacts into Gmail. Last week, Google announced the launch of another major product, its Knowledge Portal, or Knol. Knol is being touted as the wikipedia killer and Google’s attempt at building collaborative space for developing an online knowledge databank.
So, will all these aforementioned points plus some other minor changes and improvements in Google’s online empire, it is inevitable to think that Google is actually developing itself towards something bigger.
Amidst all the features, the functionality, the usefulness of all Google’s online products, the only thing left is how to let the online users in. That is how to create a community users’ base. And the answer has been the current buzz around the web over the weekend – the Google Profile.
Google explains its Profile as how the users represent themselves on to Google products.
“it lets you tell others a bit more about who you are and what you’re all about. You control what goes into your Google Profile, sharing as much (or as little) as you’d like.”
Google profiles will soon links to all Google products, while as of this writing you can already see the manifestation of Google Profil unto various Google products such as the Reader and Shared Stuff.
If these profiles will be link to other Google products, then these products can be compared to the widgets/applications of other social network sites. And a user’s Google account shall serve as his passport to all things Google on the web.
Don’t look now, but we may one day see ourselves networking within each other within our Google accounts. By then, we can already say that Google has found the ultimate Facebook/MySpace killer.
