Google Me: I Think It Will Rock

Google Operating System reports that Google's social network will not be a new service but will be a social upgrade to existing services.

The idea appears to be to revamp Google Buzz to be the central hub of all Google applications with more Google products integrated into the Buzz stream. Based on Google's criticisms of other social networks, the new social structure will likely have customizable social circles. You don't necessarily want to share the same information with college friends as you would your family, and this structure will reflect this. The network should have the ability to have certain things that always appear to only these friends, and other things appear only to those friends.

Say you have a social circle of close relatives and you all are working on several Google docs for a family reunion. You have a drawing to sketch out ideas for setup, a spreadsheet for attendees and a word doc for invitations. When you make a change to the attendee spreadsheet, a notice would appear on their Buzz feeds. They would then be able to comment on that Buzz post. "I'm not so sure we should invite Bob, he really caused a ruckus last year."

Using Buzz as a common social strand to all Google products could make a great social network. However there is another thing I expect from the new social structure which could make it worlds better than other social networks - integration with Google search. Social search has been in beta for a while now, but it hasn't really been anything special. I do think that Google wants its social structure to stretch beyond its own products, which could involve getting real with social search.

Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt recently said, "The best thing that would happen is for Facebook to open up its data. Failing that, there are other ways to get that information." This leads me to believe that Google wants to vamp up its social search. Right now Google users can link their social networks to their Google profile. You can link your Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, etc. With social built into search, when you searched for something there would be a section of your search results that would show what your friends have said about the topic you searched for. You would see any Blogger posts they have posted concerning the topic, Twitter posts, Facebook wall posts, etc.

If Google will capitalize on all of this, it could be pretty amazing. If I'm searching for something, I am certainly interested in what my friends have to say about the subject. Adding such a social dynamic to Google search would take social networking to a whole new level.

Now we just have to wait and see if Google lives up to its full potential.