What's next with Google?

The question 'Do you Buzz?' didn't really take off, did it? Nor did, 'Are you on Wave?' So, Google came, saw, tried half-heartedly and went back to tinkering beneath the hood of its gigantic search engine

The question 'Do you Buzz?' didn't really take off, did it? Nor did, 'Are you on Wave?' So, Google came, saw, tried half-heartedly and went back to tinkering beneath the hood of its gigantic search engine. It's clearly itching for another shot at social networking though -- the one arena where it has repeatedly been force-fed large slices of humble pie.


A cool logo and hype didn't help Google Wave to really take off

It's almost like the opposite of a Midas touch: Move towards Orkut, and watch it fail to take off outside India and Brazil. Launch Google Profiles, watch the world fail to sit up and take notice. Try beating Twitter with Buzz, watch the former refuse to blink an eyelid in alarm.

Now, come rumours of a product called Google Me. While it still sounds like a joke at our collective expense, there are a growing number of whispers referring to the project's existence. Assuming this is true -- that Google really is perfecting a social networking platform robust enough to confront mighty Facebook -- it will be anything but a cakewalk. For one, 450 million people with established networks (and a truckload of personal data) aren't going to be persuaded to shift simply because a new Welcome mat has appeared.

Secondly, Orkut, Buzz and Wave (a product ahead of its time) haven't been forgotten yet.

Having said that, Google Me may still manage to score when it comes to integration. If it chooses to take Social Search, add Profiles, Buzz, a few innovative applications and its powerful ad network, the new product may just hit the ground running.

Making Gmail users default members of Google Me may seem like a logical thing to do, but I suspect Google will stay away from that approach and let us discover the product's advantages in our own time. And, even if it fails to make Mark Zuckerberg nervous, there will still be a few million people willing to give it a third, or fourth chance.

It's the least we can do for a company that continues to help us find answers to a whole lot of questions.

-- Lindsay Pereira is Editor, MiD DAY Online
twitter.com/lindsaypereira

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