Google Wants To Be A Social Network

Google has taken a major step towards becoming a social network - and thereby firing a cannon salvo against both Facebook and Twitter.
Google has a brand new service is called Google Buzz that was presented Tuesday at a press conference in Mountain View, California. Buzz combines Google's own Gmail mail system with status updates and the ability to share links, images and video with friends.

While we're talking about social network services, I should mention that a few days ago a huge pile of updates for the "Social from the start" initiative landed in the daily build of Ubuntu 10.04 - Lucid Lynx. The "Social from the start" plan is not just about having Twitter and Facebook applications installed by default, but rather how to leverage and integrate these with the desktop and the users workflow. Below is a screenshot of the new MeMenu.

Screenshot credit goes to Jono Bacon 

Social network services like Twitter, identi.ca and Facebook are becoming an increasingly common medium in which people communicate and I'm exited to see what will come of this new initiative from Google. I'm a Gmail user myself and would love to see Google Buzz integrated in future version of Ubuntu.

Sources:

• http://www.google.com/buzz
• http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/
• http://www.jonobacon.org/