Internet giant Google has revealed more regarding the upcoming social network it will unveil later this year, said to be an attempt to rival Facebook.
Chief executive Eric Schmidt told TechCrunch the new social network is not necessarily “social” in the strictest sense of the word, and that the new feature will roll out later this year.
“Our view of social is a little different than what everyone has been writing. We want our core products to get better from social information. The best thing that could happen is if Facebook opened up its network and if we could just use that information… Failing that, there are other ways in which we can get that information.”
“We are trying to add a social component [to Google’s core products] to make them even better. With your permission… and knowing more about who your friends are, we can provide more tailored recommendations, search quality will be better.”
Various sources have also informed TechCrunch the new Google Me feature will run through a variation of the existing Google Buzz framework.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
