Dissident

Google are getting serious about social networking

Interesting things happening at Google, with much speculation that they intend making a more serious and focussed foray into the social media arena. The recent purchase of Jaiku (similar to Twitter, but with more features), and the growing interest in Orkut  – their current social networking site - may make uncomfortable reading for the folks over at Facebook, if the report by the Scolbleizer is anything to go by. I have to admit that I do like most of what Google do, and indeed use most of their web applications. However, they do seem to have a scatter-gun approach to acquisitions, so I’m hoping this latest Web 2.0/social media/social networking/communities buying spree will ultimately provide a more integrated  (or rational) environment for their products.

The Google Experience

My colleague Dave Briggs has put together an excellent summary of the various Google social media applications on his LGNewMedia blog. Things like Reader, Google Groups, Docs and Spreadsheets, Blogger, Google’s customised search service, Google Maps, Gmail, Google’s calendar, iGoogle, Google Apps, Notebook etc.

I think most Web 2.0/social media gurus will be familiar with the breadth and depth of Google's freebies, but Dave also identifies the various rival products. Whether or not we consider the Google versions to be the best of breed, there's no escaping the fact that you're likely to get a far better and more consistent user experience through the seamless integration of many of these applications than many of the rival products. Particularly so if you've also personalised your browser with the various buttons and plug-ins available, such as the Google toolbar.

Yes, Google's softly-softly, stealth-like approach is gradually taking over the user's desktop, and personally, I don't think it is such a bad thing.

Google Gears up for off-line browser apps

As a closet fan of all that is 'Google', I was wondering when I should make the final step in my transition from Bloglines to Google Reader. I've been using both for some time now, which is bit of a pain when I have to add and categorise a new feed since I end up replicating the process twice. However, I think the recent announcement about Google Gears is the tipping point I needed. So, sadly, it's goodbye to Bloglines, but loyalty only goes so far.

Basically, Gears is a browser add-on that enables web-based applications to run locally whilst off-line. The product is in Beta at the moment, and only supports the Google Reader (RSS feed aggregator). However, we can expect to see support for Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Mail, Google Blogger, and in fact any of their applications where there is value to be gained by working off-line and on-line.

Looks like another killer app to me!