Social networks: Google Me confirmed for the autumn

The Google Me rumour has finally been confirmed by Google’s CEO, who now reveals that this is a social layer over existing services.

The rumour has been circulating since the beginning of the summer, with Google remaining mum on the subject. It has now finally been confirmed by the company that, after Orkut and Buzz, they will once again be attacking social networks via Google Me. During Google’s latest acquisitions, and through their partnerships, their every move has been scrutinised with great interest – especially their hunger to get into the online board games field.

Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, has confirmed to ZDNet that Google Me will appear in the autumn. Of course, at this stage very few details have been made available and we don’t yet know whether this will be a global release and with an emphasis on board games.

Eric Schmidt nevertheless let slip an interesting piece of information, stating that Google Me wouldn’t be a social network, but rather a social layer. Google Me will also introduce this social layer to their online searches, video and Google Maps. It appears that Gmail won’t be included, as this is already covered by Buzz.

Google Me will therefore not be an autonomous product, but rather a social add on which already generates a strong following. This choice has surly been influenced by the fact that Facebook already has 500 million members, a number that Google Me would have trouble denting when starting from zero.

It will be interesting to find out exactly what Google Me will me offering to make themselves stand apart, as social interactions through Google products is already possible like what we see with YouTube.