Only Google knows the truth.
However, creating such a site would be a smart move on Google's part since they do need to compéte with Facebook, mainly because Facebook is turning into a real search engine, one that could possibly give Google a run for all those lucrative search dollars. Ridiculous you say - not really, especially when you consider Facebook's recent move towards "Open Graph Search" and its use of the "Like" button and box. is the number of plugins which you can add to your blog.
Once web users realize the true value of such rankings and search engine, then Google will have some real competition at last.
Of course, Google is not standing still. As those of us who make a full time living from search engine marketing will tell you, Google is placing more emphasis on "user-generated" content and ratings. They have placed more emphasis on the "truer" ranking systems on the web, those coming from social networking sites like Twitter, Digg, Del.icio.us, YouTube, MySpace and even Facebook.
How many Tweets does a post get? How many Diggs does your content gather? How many comments does your YouTube video have? How many Thumbs Up? How many times is a web page bookmarked in Del.icio.us and recommended to friends.
Granted even these social bookmarking sites can be manipulated, but it is just a little harder to do than simple link buying or employing simple SEO tactics/services to get your site to the top spot. Which brings us back to the question at hand - is Google developing a social networking site like Facebook? If you count all the programs/sites which Google currently offers up: Google Wave, Google Voice, iGoogle, Google Accounts, Google Buzz, Gmail, Google Profiles... one could argue... does Google really need another social networking program?
Of course, Google is not standing still. As those of us who make a full time living from search engine marketing will tell you, Google is placing more emphasis on "user-generated" content and ratings. They have placed more emphasis on the "truer" ranking systems on the web, those coming from social networking sites like Twitter, Digg, Del.icio.us, YouTube, MySpace and even Facebook.
How many Tweets does a post get? How many Diggs does your content gather? How many comments does your YouTube video have? How many Thumbs Up? How many times is a web page bookmarked in Del.icio.us and recommended to friends.
Granted even these social bookmarking sites can be manipulated, but it is just a little harder to do than simple link buying or employing simple SEO tactics/services to get your site to the top spot. Which brings us back to the question at hand - is Google developing a social networking site like Facebook? If you count all the programs/sites which Google currently offers up: Google Wave, Google Voice, iGoogle, Google Accounts, Google Buzz, Gmail, Google Profiles... one could argue... does Google really need another social networking program?
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