According to a tweet by the ever-so-famous Kevin Rose, Google is set to launch their very own Facebook competitor called "Google Me." The man best known for starting Digg.com is calling the news a "huge rumor," yet makes it clear that the word comes from a "very credible source." It's a little late in the year for an April Fools joke, and Kevin Rose is usually pretty on-the-ball when it comes to these sort of things.
Earlier in the year, Google became much more involved in the social networking scene when it force-launched Google Buzz upon all of its Gmail users. The Twitter-like service allows users to post status updates from various sources with no character limit, the ability to include embedded media, and an organized threaded inbox-like user interface. Google was quickly criticized for its lack of privacy consideration when Buzz was first launched, but has since rectified the issues. Buzz's direct Gmail integration makes it a convenient alternative to other micro-blogging and social networking sites.
Google taking on Facebook would definitely be an unexpected move. At the same time, Google has always pushed themselves to try and do everything that everyone else does, just better. Perhaps with "Google Me," the Mountain View company feels it has something better to offer the many oodles of Facebookers out there.
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