Google Finally Set to Join the Social Scene
There has been a lot of speculation in the search marketing universe about Google and social media. How does Google approach the advertising threat posed by Facebook, for instance, and are they really likely to purchase Twitter in the near future?
They may not have to, as technology blog The Next Web speculated on Friday that Google is likely to launch its own social network, possibly called Google Circles, at its next conference in May. When the blog pressed Google for an answer and to address the speculation, their response was simply: "We do not comment on rumour and speculation."
Though Google has started to provide social recommendations for all its listings, the company is still lagging behind on the social scene. Some arguments say that Google doesn’t, in fact, need to be social and that its search services are enough. But the fact is that advertisers are very tempted by the social scene, and it’s revenue that Google sorely needs to carry on growing across the globe.
Whether customers advertise on the search engine through pay per click management or other when it comes to search marketing, Google needs to keep hold of that core revenue to further the company on a global level and keep it ahead of the search engine competition.
But what exactly could Google offer in a social sense that hasn’t already been done by Twitter, Facebook and all the rest? Social media is at such a stage that things like coupons, online discounts and more are being integrated into social services such as Facebook Places and more – Google was heavily linked with purchasing Groupon some time ago, don’t forget…
Speculation will be rife from now until May – not just because Google may possibly be releasing a social competitor to rival Facebook and Twitter, but simply because it shows that Google may have finally got a grip on the overall social scene.
