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Google to Compete with Facebook. Thoughts?

by Ron Douglas
55 replies
What do you think of this?:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Google Inc. opened a new social hub in its e-mail service on Tuesday, leaving little doubt that the Internet search leader is girding for a face-off with Facebook.

The new Gmail channel, called Google Buzz, includes many of the features that have turned Facebook into the Web's top spot for fraternizing with friends and family.

It comes less than a week after Facebook made changes of its own. Among other things, Facebook now shows a list of friends available for chatting on the left side of the page, similar to where Gmail now displays its chat feature.

The Google Buzz features won't reach all of Gmail's estimated 176 million users worldwide for several more days. A link to the service will appear on the top left of the page, in a prominent position just under Gmail's inbox tab.

Like Facebook, Google Buzz will let Gmail users post updates about what they are doing or thinking and share those with the rest of the world or with only a select group of people. Gmail users also will be able to track other people's updates and instantly comment on them for everyone else in the social circle to see.

And, just like Facebook, Google Buzz can serve as a showcase for video, photos and Web links to interesting stories.

Story continued at: Google's e-mail gets social in Facebook face-off - Yahoo! Finance
#compete #facebook #google #thoughts
  • Profile picture of the author JCTunes
    If you take a look at the response to the changes on Facebook, Google might be getting into the battle at exactly the right time. I might have to check it out, as I can't stand the new Facebook layout! :-(
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    • Profile picture of the author ExpertMkt
      Its a battle they will probably win
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  • Profile picture of the author DogScout
    Darn, I was gonna do that too!
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  • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
    Google will never take over facebook, many of the families on facebook would never stand for how google invades your privacy and tries to control you ...

    Remember there may always be someone on top but there is also those that will fight tooth and nail all the way to protect their families and privacy..

    James
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael D
      Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

      Google will never take over facebook, many of the families on facebook would never stand for how google invades your privacy and tries to control you ...

      Remember there may always be someone on top but there is also those that will fight tooth and nail all the way to protect their families and privacy..

      James
      You should probably check out Facebook's history on privacy issues before you make statements like that. I'm not saying Google will take over Facebook because it probably won't but Facebook is no angel either...
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      • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
        Originally Posted by Michael D View Post

        You should probably check out Facebook's history on privacy issues before you make statements like that. I'm not saying Google will take over Facebook because it probably won't but Facebook is no angel either...
        The privacy I am talking about is being forced to have sidewiki comments on "YOUR" own personal freaking site/business that you built without freaking google..

        I am not worried about privacy as in who I am and where I live.. I have nothing to hide..

        But I can see all the sales pages and wso's now on how to make a million dollars from google buzz .. Oh yeah another place for marketers to go and do SpaMarketing ..

        James
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    • Profile picture of the author Dhira
      Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

      Google will never take over facebook, many of the families on facebook would never stand for how google invades your privacy and tries to control you ...

      Remember there may always be someone on top but there is also those that will fight tooth and nail all the way to protect their families and privacy..

      James
      Most people don't know squat about privacy issues.....
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  • Profile picture of the author proaffiliate26
    If anyone can come close to competing with Facebook, I think it's Google. The big G has all the tools and resources it could ever want at its disposal...in addition, they have some brilliant ideas.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Google reminds me more and more of Microsoft. Lots of money to throw at anything that proves popular so they can dominate as many big markets as they can. Not necessarily anything wrong with that, but it's not necessarily good for the average user either.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      Google reminds me more and more of Microsoft. Lots of money to throw at anything that proves popular so they can dominate as many big markets as they can. Not necessarily anything wrong with that, but it's not necessarily good for the average user either.
      Yeah and what's funny is everybody thinks those useless tools are "FREE" ..

      James
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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

        Yeah and what's funny is everybody thinks those useless tools are "FREE" ..

        James
        That's a whole different conversation, isn't it?
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  • Profile picture of the author Mukul Verma
    The only constant is change.

    You heard of My Space, Friendster, they once dominated. Anything can happen.

    What about ICQ, who uses that today?

    Cheers,
    Mukul
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Fortunately, my gmail is directed to Microsoft Outlook so hopefully, I won't be bothered much by Google Buzz. I prefer to have my email, just plain old email. Leave it up to Google to screw that up. If it becomes intrusive in any way, I'll ditch gmail altogether.
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  • Profile picture of the author ExpertMkt
    thats crazy, google is one smart company because there are tons of people that use gmail, obviously you said 167 million, so there are gonna have a huge amount of people starting to use that service.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by ExpertMkt View Post

      thats crazy, google is one smart company because there are tons of people that use gmail, obviously you said 167 million, so there are gonna have a huge amount of people starting to use that service.
      There is also 167 million that do not use gmail ... So the point is what ? 167 million gmail accounts does not mean 167 million users. Fact is many marketers have 20 and 30 gmail accounts.. Many just created to spam some website with backlinks and the gmail account is never used.

      I would not say many would use it either.. Just because they have users does not mean they will use it. Look at how many membership sites have people that pay for the service and many of the members never do anything..

      James
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  • Profile picture of the author KevinDasilva
    The way I see it Google trying to compete with Facebook is like Rc Cola trying to compete with Coca-Cola.

    Sure Google in certain areas of the game is HOT!

    BUT I believe Facebook is the one that will be pushing Google out of the way once they launch their own Search Engine.

    Facebook is here to stay IMO! And NO ONE not even Google can compete.

    If I were Google I would STOP trying to beat FB at their game by being Offensive and be playing DEFENSE because when FB realeases their Search ENgine... GOOGLE IS IN TROUBLE! Again IMO!

    ~Kevin
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      I agree ... The problem is many do not keep up with facebook technology, there are many changes coming that I think many do not know about because they spend all their time on google webmaster useless forum and not on facebooks developer forum.

      James

      Originally Posted by KevinDasilva View Post

      The way I see it Google trying to compete with Facebook is like Rc Cola trying to compete with Coca-Cola.

      Sure Google in certain areas of the game is HOT!

      BUT I believe Facebook is the one that will be pushing Google out of the way once they launch their own Search Engine.

      Facebook is here to stay IMO! And NO ONE not even Google can compete.

      If I were Google I would STOP trying to beat FB at their game by being Offensive and be playing DEFENSE because when FB realeases their Search ENgine... GOOGLE IS IN TROUBLE! Again IMO!

      ~Kevin
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  • Profile picture of the author samstephens
    Interesting!

    My two cents: I don't think Google will come close to it.

    They've thrown their hat into a lot of rings and come off second best recently.

    Google Checkout was going to wipe out Paypal but fell seriously short.

    Google Video was going to wipe out YouTube, but they ended up having to just buy that one.

    [EDIT] Oh, and Knolls versus Squidoos [/EDIT]

    I honestly think Google is just spreading itself too thin. Time for it to stop being a "me too" situation, and start innovating once again - that's where it's strenght lies.

    cheers
    Sam
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    • Profile picture of the author Mary McLean
      Not being a regular user of Facebook sort of leaves me out in the cold in some respects, but my daughter is almost an "expert" on F/B, so I have lessons coming up!

      Facebook with it's reported 350,000 million users & their pretty fancy people profiling tool seems to have a distinct advantage over Google IMHO.

      They already have a massive following & isn't F/B the 2nd most used site out there? Google is 8th or 11th?

      I'm just about to learn how to use this people profiling tool to locate a market to hook up with. It also takes paid adds too, I believe.

      BTWay, I bought a domain at Google check out recently.
      Hardly anyone I mentioned this to had heard that Google sold Domains via Go-Daddy, so their promo to compete in other markets is not very good it seems.

      Kindest regards,
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  • Profile picture of the author Slin
    Huh, I saw a link to this when I logged into gmail.

    I had no idea what it was so I skipped by it.

    No idea where this will go.
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnS88
      I'm sure they will be successful in some respects but as far as directly competing with Facebook, I really don't see Google's new service reaching Facebook's level.
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  • Profile picture of the author dsmpublishing
    Hi guys

    people are getting sick of facebook for the silly changes and twitter for the spam so it would be nice to have an alternative.

    kind regards


    sam
    X
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by dsmpublishing View Post

      Hi guys

      people are getting sick of facebook for the silly changes and twitter for the spam so it would be nice to have an alternative.

      kind regards


      sam
      X
      Yeah a new place for SpaMarketing .... Can't wait to see all the junk ebooks on how to rape people for money using google buzz..

      How many marketers are already thinking and wondering how they can make money from google buzz ????

      James
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  • Profile picture of the author Jan W
    In my opinion it´s the same thing as the nexus one. Google can´t directly compete with facebook. They just can´t reach the level of the best social network (350,000 million users).
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    • Profile picture of the author va_mom
      I wonder if Google Buzz will be as popular as FB now. And i do agree, FB's new layout sucks, i still want the old one.
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      • Profile picture of the author workfromhomejobs
        I don't care who wins. The more the merrier. They all just providing tools. We are just user. I as user use things that helps and ignore that is not.
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  • Profile picture of the author DrGUID
    Facebook is junk, its value proposition for advertisers must surely be total rubbish. The only people who use Facebook extensively are loosers who like those crappy games and idiot non thinking drones who like forwarding on stupid chainletter things.

    I guess anyone who thinks facebook can't fail should read the friends reunited story!
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  • Profile picture of the author zackick
    i dont like the way the google do to compete with facebook.
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
    Doesn't it really come down to one thing. If Google creates a community environment which is better than FaceBook it has a chance.

    I can almost guarantee one thing. Google will have a better understanding of how to monetize their project than Facebook. If you think Facebook understands creating demographic data, let loose the developers at Google, and you may see some real magic. Collecting data, crunching the data, and coming up with useful information is their specialty.

    I actually think it is great Google has jumped into the middle of the fray. I hope Microsoft starts pushing harder, too. The one thing which always comes from competition is innovation and OPPORTUNITY!
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    • Profile picture of the author Venturetothetop
      Its the rules of product creation....

      First there is one product to rule all...

      Then it gets over populated, can not keep everyone happy with the one product, so people split off into some of the cloned mini sites, which cater to a community with similar tastes to theirs...

      Think Friendfinder - Facebook, then - a small world

      The im guide to different niche ebooks...

      If Google targets one particular demographic of user it will do well... try to be everything to everyone - well get ready to see a flop...

      Honestly, as it is really just an extension of Google chat, Im really suprised it took them this long in the first place...
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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    Google is coming out with so much Cyber trash they are competing with themselves.

    When I say Cyber "trash" I mean it in a cultural sense.

    Lets face it culturally thats all myspace, youtube, facebook, twitter & all the rest of them are. But thats beside the point.

    Some months back the wave announcement was made, a while later a bunch of Google social tools became apparent and interlinked. Sidewiki being only a small piece in the chain.

    Google buzz is yet another piece in the Google social menagerie (experiment).

    Really some people will find an exploit and milk traffic, many hours will be wasted by most people.

    ... and some will find these tools useful.

    PS: Learn mandarin - Google is toast.
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  • Profile picture of the author UnDenIeD
    The road for google to turn into a great social network is longer than it is for Facebook to turn into a great search engine. Having such a wide spread, Facebook would be more of a contender than Bing would ever be.

    Would love to see that happen, but hey Christmas comes only once a year
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  • Profile picture of the author Marius_Puluikis
    ohh google probably want to be like virgin. The past is a great teacher if google video, google checkout didnt wont, i dont think google buzz gonna be different. If they will, it is gonna take at least 18months..
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  • Profile picture of the author gabibeowulf
    They tried to take over Paypal as well with Google Checkout ... and failed

    They tried to compete with yahoo mail and hotmail with Gmail ... and succeeded

    Google vs Facebook ? I guess it's pretty early to tell.
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  • Profile picture of the author simba
    I know the new fb interface sucks, but its better than the old one which was there before the new one...get my drift?

    Anyhow on to my rant: I think Google designs possibly the most function-loaded and user friendly interfaces ever. But tell me,someone, anyone, how come they have such UGLY interfaces? Seriously, just compare the looks on your gmail with any other email account you have.

    Its like a totally bright, smart and brainy woman who is completely ugly. We could do with some looks, please, please, please...
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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    Its not available in my gmail account

    But i did discover if you go to gmail - settings - labs

    You will have enough google cyber trash to make yourself puke.
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    • Profile picture of the author jc23
      1) Facebook is too entrenched in peoples lives now to lose its footing. It is a social tool and is the way millions organise their social life.

      2) Google will end up buying Facebook



      wh
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  • Profile picture of the author Venturetothetop
    I hope Facebook see a serious threat from Google, and then Facebook might start partnering with it's developers a little more...

    Competition can only bring good news for suppliers of services, as they will both be competing for our time..
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  • Profile picture of the author Tsnyder
    This is perfect for Facebook... they've just identified
    a buyer with really deep pockets.

    Tsnyder
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    • Profile picture of the author Killer Joe
      Originally Posted by Tsnyder View Post

      This is perfect for Facebook... they've just identified a buyer with really deep pockets.
      That statement makes a lot of sense. Time will tell...

      The other advantage for Google in this is it could slow down the growth of FB which may have an impact on FB search in the long run.

      It would also keep the future price of FB in check should Google look for an aquisition of FB.

      KJ
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  • Profile picture of the author Desmond Ong
    I would love to see this:

    ADWORDS VS FACEBOOK ADS
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    • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
      I just got on Google Buzz yesterday, it popped up when I logged into my Gmail Account.
      Friend me at sdccpro@gmail.com Can see how it works?
      I think I have 50 friends already on it.
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      • Profile picture of the author Lance K
        Looks like the mods may have another icon to include in the "Social Networking" box under avatars.
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  • Profile picture of the author daver99
    Google already dominates Facebook in certain countries... for whatever reason Orkut (owned by Google) is the social site of choice for Brazil.

    I don't see them beating Facebook at their own game in the US and Europe.

    It is like Microsoft when they announced they announced they were going after the search engine market ( that went well). They have the cash but it takes more than that.

    Google could possibly dominate a certain niche just like LinkedIn cornered social networking for business, and no doubt they will introduce an innovation.

    Google wants to further their "real time" search capability so they figure they need a bigger foot in the "social media" door.
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  • Profile picture of the author besthos-t
    Google have orkut to compete facebook. I dont think they start something new that points facebook. But i love too see it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Chris Worner
    In regards to Google checkout failing, didn't fee-bay ban the use of Google checkout so the sellers could only use fee-pal?
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  • Profile picture of the author Lisa Gergets
    This is yet another diversion I don't need. If anyone knows how to remove it from my Gmail menu, pls PM me. I've looked at settings and frankly, I don't think there's even an option to remove it.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheRichJerksNet
      Originally Posted by Lisa Gergets View Post

      This is yet another diversion I don't need. If anyone knows how to remove it from my Gmail menu, pls PM me. I've looked at settings and frankly, I don't think there's even an option to remove it.
      Google does not create options to "opt-out" .. As I said before the tools are not as free as people think. If you are going to use their tools then the way they see it you can deal with anything that they wish to force upon you, like it or not ..

      James
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      • Profile picture of the author Lisa Gergets
        Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet View Post

        Google does not create options to "opt-out" .. As I said before the tools are not as free as people think. If you are going to use their tools then the way they see it you can deal with anything that they wish to force upon you, like it or not ..

        James
        ....Damn....
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  • Profile picture of the author Brad Gosse
    Google failed @ video sharing so they bought youtube. They may fail at their twitter attempt too
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  • Profile picture of the author Mukul Verma
    Here is a video on what Google Buzz is

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  • Profile picture of the author Ashley Skuse
    I think Google are far too late to compete with Facebook. And at the end of the day, people want to go to Google for searching webpages, and go to Facebook for their social networking.
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  • Profile picture of the author gareth
    Is anybody outside the USA able to use it yet ?

    I have to be honest - it looks cool.
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