Will Google Start Its Own Social Network Soon?

Competition makes the world go around and, according to the article below, Facebook had overtaken Google in internet searches in March.Weekly traffic at Facebook exceeded Google’s for the first time that month, according to data tracker Experian Hitwise. It just makes sense then that Google will offer a social network service in order to compete.This is expected to happen sometime within the next six months or so
   . . . June


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Facebook Says Google May Start Social Networking Site Within Six Months
Bloomberg:  By Mark Lee - Sep 14, 2010 2:09 PM ET 
 
Facebook Inc., operator of the world’s most popular social-networking site, said Google Inc. may offer a similar service within six months as demand from Internet users increases.

Google is expected to start “a fairly significant social media platform,” Stephen Dolan, commercial director for Asia at Facebook, said at a conference in Hong Kong today. Google may unveil the website in “three to six months,” according to Dolan, who said his projection is based on information from media reports.

Google is stepping up acquisitions after its search engine was overtaken by Facebook, whose service allows users to share photos, video, short messages and other information with groups of friends, as the most-visited U.S. website in March. Weekly traffic at Facebook exceeded Google’s for the first time that month, according to data tracker Experian Hitwise.

“Facebook is the leader in the emerging Social Web and will face challenges from many players, both large and small,” said Ray Valdes, an analyst at Gartner Inc. “Google is Facebook’s most direct competitor, because Google is dominant in the previous generation of the Web, the content-centric Web.”
Google’s social network service won’t mandate a direct response, provided Facebook continues to carry out its mission of becoming the world’s social utility, Valdes said in an e- mailed statement.

Read on . . . 

Mark Zuckerberg: Evil Genius Or Brilliant Classmate? See The Movie!

 So Mark Zuckerberg is the subject of a new movie The Social Network. Apparently, it purports to loosely tell the story of Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook, but it appears that it might stray from the facts here and there. It might be very interesting for some of his classmates who knew him then to critique the movie once it's out.
   . . . June


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Zuckerberg: Evil Genius Or Brilliant Classmate?:
Rebecca Davis O'Brien, The Daily Beast 

As the movie The Social Network rolls toward theaters, Rebecca O’Brien writes about Zuckerberg’s reputation around Harvard, his fraternity nickname, and why Facebook was such a hit.

Hollywood biopics are often the inverse of political autobiographies: heavy on sex and drugs, light on weighty questions of morality and leadership. If the script leaked online and the trailers are any indication, the new movie The Social Network, which purports to tell the story of Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook, will play like a conversation between Hamlet and Joe Francis, as secretly recorded by Richard Nixon. It is paranoid, sleazy, and grim.

As the film tells it, during the winter of 2004, Zuckerberg, a curmudgeonly, craven genius, bristling against authority and embittered by the culture of wealth and privilege that excludes him, creates a social network to impress vapid women and the callow preppies of Harvard’s exclusive, all-male final clubs. The film’s Zuckerberg, as played by Jesse Eisenberg, hates Harvard students, disdains fraternities, and answers to nobody. Zuckerberg, with a kind of mad scientist’s zeal, seeks popularity, profit, and revenge. In the words of the film’s ubiquitous ad campaign, he is “Poet. Prophet. Billionaire.”

That completely misses the point. Zuckerberg is, indisputably, a savant. He has also, by most accounts, broken agreements and rules. After talking to one of Facebook’s co-founders and students who were at Harvard when Zuckerberg and I were classmates, there’s one outstanding question about the creator and CEO of the 500 million-member website that today is valued at somewhere between $24 billion and $32 billion. Zuckberg was an antiauthoritarian who, through some combination of outmaneuvering, technical wizardry, and intuition, became the guy in charge. But can we trust the antiauthoritarian once he becomes the authority?


Read more:

Facebook Claims A New Feature. Now Post Locations!

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces a new feature of Facebook named "Places" which will allow users to share where you are, see where your friends are and discover new places. I

New Facebook feature lets you post locations August 19, 2010 at 1:36 AM 0 0 0 Lea Suzuki / The Chronicle Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces a new feature of Facebook named "Places" in Palo Alto, Calif. on Wednesday August 18, 2010. Places will allow users to share where you are, see where your friends are and discover new places. Images View Larger Images (08-18) 20:20 PDT -- Mobile geo-location applications that let people share where they shop, dine or play have become an emerging technology trend, but social media powerhouse Facebook Inc. on Wednesday joined the parade with a new feature that could bring the trend to a... Facebook Has Been Working On This Location Feature For 8 Months August 18, 2010 at 10:38 PM Today at an event at their headquarters in Palo Alto, CA, Facebook unveiled their new Places product — their location/check-in solution. Obviously, their entry in this space has been rumored for a long time — a very long time. But during the Q&A session, someone asked how... Check Proves Ceglia Paid Zuckerberg-What Now? August 18, 2010 at 7:55 PM There’s yet another episode to the oddball tale of Paul Ceglia, the New York man who says a 2003 contract with eventual Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg entitles him to an 84 percent share of the company: Ceglia’s local... This email was sent to dyna999399.face999399@blogger.com. Delivered by Feed My Inbox 230 Franklin Road Suite 814 Franklin, TN 37064 Account Login Unsubscribe Here

Paul Ceglia Produces Another Cancelled Check As "Proof"

Paul Ceglia's Facebook Claim Guy Who Says He Owns 84% Of Facebook Produces Another Cancelled Check To Mark Zuckerberg August 17, 2010 at 1:14 PM When we last left the story about the upstate New York man who is claiming he owns 84% of Facebook (), we had concluded that the digital "contract" Ceglia had produced was probably a fake.  We had also noted that Ceglia needed to answer three questions before we were inclined to believe him: 1.  Where was the payment trail? Ceglia had only produced a $1,000 check stub, which only appeared to cover a single payment for contract development work on a Ceglia company called StreetFax.  There was no evidence that a second payment for $1,000 for 50% of "The Face Book" had been made. 3.  Where was the original paper-based contract and when would a judge and Facebook be able to... Did Mark Zuckerberg sell Facebook for $3000? August 17, 2010 at 9:47 AM NEW YORK: The western New York man suing over claims he owns 84 percent of Facebook Inc has a copy of a $3,000 cashier's check his lawyer says is proof of a contract with Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg. The purported 2003 check is made out to Zuckerberg and dated three days before Paul Ceglia claims the two men signed a contract, according to the attorney.... Facebook May Make Location Announcement Wednesday August 17, 2010 at 12:24 AM We've just received an invitation to visit Facebook's Palo Alto campus on Wednesday to get "an update on the service’s features and products," and rumor has it the powers that be want to talk about location-based products. Kara Swisher at BoomTown her sources "indicate that Facebook will finally be rolling... Facebook Making Possible Location Announcement Wednesday August 16, 2010 at 11:23 PM We've just received an invitation to visit Facebook's Palo Alto campus on Wednesday to get "an update on the service’s features and products," and rumor has it the powers that be want to talk about location-based products. Kara Swisher at BoomTown her sources "indicate that Facebook will finally be rolling... This email was sent to dyna999399.face999399@blogger.com. Delivered by Feed My Inbox 230 Franklin Road Suite 814 Franklin, TN 37064 Account Login Unsubscribe Here