Google is close to launching a social network site that will take on Facebook. The new name is believed to be Google +1.
Google is close to launching a social network site that will take on Facebook. The new name is believed to be Google +1.
Rumours surrounding a Google social network have been around for some time, but it is only now2 that technical details are starting to emerge.
Instead of a web site similar to Facebook, Google is planning to deliver their new service as an optional browser extension which could force millions of consumers to switch from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Firefox if they want access to the Google social network.
According to TechCrunch the extension will be called Loop, and has been designed to reflect social circles known as “loops” where most information would be shared.
It’s considered near-certain that a version of Loop would exist for Android and might propagate to other mobile platforms as well they said.
The service and the availability on Smartphones risks angering a number of companies, particularly Facebook. Although the Loop app is unfinished and should be significantly different, parts of it resembled Facebook’s own efforts, one observer said.
Google and Facebook have been in a fight over data exports that are widely believed to hinge on Facebook’s worries that Google would compete against it.
Allowing two-way export for Facebook contacts would let users defect more easily to a rival service, although Facebook has tried to raise privacy worries by noting that many exports could have personal details exported without consent.
Google chief Eric Schmidt has said several times that the search Company is not looking to develop a Facebook clone.
