Over the past few weeks, we’ve been able to dig up a bunch of details about Google’s secret forthcoming social service. The service, previously codenamed “Emerald Sea” but currently being called “+1“, essentially seems to be a toolbar that exists along the top of Google’s various properties to allow for easy sharing. We even were able to snag a picture of it.
But there’s also quite a bit more to… → Read More
While we haven’t 100 percent confirmed it yet (update: we’ve confirmed with a source), what you see above is what we do very much believe to be a picture of Google’s latest social foray. Yes, it’s the artist formerly known as “Google Me”, then known as “Emerald Sea“, and now known as “Google +1“.
As you can see, it’s a toolbar that exists along the top of Google’s properties — in this case… → Read More
Naturally, no sooner do a publish a story on Google’s forthcoming social product and some of the intrigue surrounding it, do some new sources come out of the woodwork. We can now confirm, by way of no fewer than four sources, that Google’s social product is in fact internally called “Emerald Sea”. And yes, obviously, it is being dogfood tested within the company.
In the previous post, we noted… → Read More
Follow the yellow brick road…
It’s no secret that Google is working on a new social project that is thought to be a layer which will be spread over many of their properties. Actually, it is supposed to be a secret. But everyone knows about it. At first, it was known as “Google Me”, but that’s probably not what it’s going to end up being called when it rolls out at some point next year. And if… → Read More
In a talk at the Monaco Media Forum earlier today, Google’s Product Management Director, Mobile, Hugo Barra, denied that the search giant is “working on building a traditional social network platform” to compete with those who’re leading the pack in that space, and scrambling to build a variety of social applications instead.
The Telegraph puts it this way: “Google’s mobile chief has flat out… → Read More
Earlier this afternoon, we posted our most recent interview with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The talk is full of gems of information, such as Facebook’s thoughts about social phones. But a more general statement Zuckerberg made about socialness is also very interesting. Because he seems to be taking a direct shot at Google.
“Even the companies that are starting to come around to thinking, ‘oh… → Read More
Up until a few months ago, I was using Facebook the same way I was using Twitter. That is, I was allowing anyone to follow me. But it was different. With Twitter, anyone can follow me without my approval. On Facebook, everyone needs my approval. Though perhaps ill-advised, I was simply blindly approving anyone. Then I stopped.
There was no single reason why I switched my Facebook habits, but I… → Read More
When I first heard the news that Google Wave was dead last week, I was surprised. I wasn’t surprised because it was a thriving, successful product (obviously, it wasn’t). I was surprised because of the gushing I heard about it from within Google leading up to and immediately following its introduction. To hear them tell it, this was the future. So I was obviously surprised that they only gave the… → Read More
Google has chosen a General in their War With Facebook – VP Engineering Vic Gundotra, we’ve heard from multiple sources. This is the person who will control overall product strategy and execution around their new efforts to find relevance in a quickly changing Internet landscape that is increasingly dominated by Facebook.
Gundotra has previously been involved in a slew of product efforts at… → Read More
Small companies clone big companies all the time. And by clone I don’t just mean steal a basic idea. I mean clone almost literally – they just plain rip off every single feature and hope for the best. It certainly saves time on user testing.
Big companies, particularly big tech companies, don’t do this as much. Pride and ethics come into play at an individual and team level. Pure copying just… → Read More
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