Will Google take on Facebook with new social network?

Speculation is growing that internet giant Google will launch a social network to rival Facebook, with a number of Silicon Valley executives saying the plan is well underway.

The network, apparently titled “Google Me”, is reportedly modelled from Facebook and will differ from stripped-down versions of the company’s previous networks like Google Buzz and Wave.

Digg founder Kevin Rose wrote on Twitter over the weekend that a well-placed source had revealed the plans. “Okay, umm, huge rumour: Google to launch Facebook competitor very soon ‘Google Me,’ very credible source,” he said, although the tweet has now been deleted.

The rumour was given a boost when Quora founder and former Facebook senior manager Adam D’Angelo wrote on his Q&A site the claim was “not a rumour. This is a real project. There are a large number of people working on it”.

He also said the internet giant is worried about Facebook, which has amassed over 500 million users, is earning revenue of over $US 1 billion and is gaining more popularity despite the recent blowout regarding privacy concerns.

“They realised that Buzz wasn’t enough and that they need to build a full, first-class social network. They are modelling it off of Facebook,” D’Angelo said.

“They had assumed that Facebook’s growth would slow as it grew, and that Facebook wouldn’t be able to have too much leverage over them, but then it just didn’t stop, and now they are really scared.”

Google has attempted to enter the social networking scene, but hasn’t been successful. The Google Buzz platform failed to gain much popularity, and Google Wave wasn’t the revolution many analysts thought it would be.

The internet giant has successfully adopted parts of social networking, such as real-time search and the ability to index tweets and Facebook updates, but its user platforms have been less successful.

Google hoped to gain users on the Buzz platform by extending its reach through Gmail accounts, but users were hesitant to jump online due to Buzz’s complicated user interface and privacy concerns. Chief executive Eric Schmidt even apologised for the botched launch in a blog post.

Analysts say the company has struggled to understand the essence of why social networking is so popular, and why Facebook has become so successful.

While the company manages Orkut, a popular social network in Eastern Europe, it has failed to break into social networking in the US and Australia.

Altimeter analyst Jeremiah Owyang told IDG Google wants likely want to get into the social networking scene to continue exposing its brand.

“Facebook is creating a social inbox with all this content that you and your friends think is of value. Brands wants to be in that inbox and will pay a lot of money to be in there,” he said, saying that Google has to “glue together” its fragmented pieces of social networking features.

But TechCrunch’s Jason Kincaid said Google has a long way to go before it can take on Facebook.

“This obviously has the potential to be huge, and Facebook needs a strong competitor. But even if Google has an amazing site in the pipeline, creating the next Facebook is going to be easier said than done.”