The internet is buzzing about a tweet yesterday from Digg CEO Kevin Rose (now taken down from the site) in which he said he’d heard a “huge rumour” that Google was planning to launch a new social network called ‘Google Me’.
Today, Adam D’Angelo, Facebook’s former CTO, has published further details suggesting that Google Me is indeed real and that is getting a lot of focus at Google HQ as the search giant tries again to beat Facebook at its own game (following the less than successful attempt that was Google Buzz):
“Here is what I’ve pieced together from some reliable sources:
- This is not a rumor. This is a real project. There are a large number of people working on it. I am completely confident about this.
- They realized that Buzz wasn’t enough and that they need to build out a full, first-class social network. They are modeling it off of Facebook.
- Unlike previous attempts (before Buzz at least), this is a high-priority project within Google.
- They had assumed that Facebook’s growth would slow as it grew, and that Facebook wouldn’t be able to have too much leverage over them, but then it just didn’t stop, and now they are really scared.”
You’d be forgiven for feeling a bit of deja vu coming on, but if anyone could rival Facebook, then surely you’d put your money on Google…