Google's track record in the social sphere has not really been that impressive, to say the least. Orkut, Buzz and this have all come and stayed but none of them have been able to make an impact; at least not as much as Facebook. Maybe it is because their approach has always been content-driven. Anyway, if rumors are to be believed, Google is going to bring out yet another social product soon called Google Me which will supposedly be a direct competitor to Facebook. 

Now, why is Google really keen on controlling the social domain? Okay, maybe not controlling, but why is it keen on being one of the major players at least?

The reason I think Google is apprehensive of Facebook's growth is the impact Google thinks it will have on Internet search in the future. Incredible though this may sound, it will make a lot more sense if you consider the evolution that online search has gone through in the last ten years -

Social Search

Today, what we search on the Internet is not just a set of keywords anymore - an idea very basic to the concept of search itself. And going forward, we'll only move further away. We search today to find answers. Or to make decisions. Remember the decision search engine? In other words, our queries are getting more complex and there is often an inevitable social overlay. Let us take an example - I feel like watching a film now. What would I want to know? Would I want to know about all movies playing in all the theatres in the city today? Or would I want to know about the movies that my friends have watched and recommended?

A number of social-search services started and backed by high profile people (at least within the tech circles), are already being used widely - Quora, Mahalo Answers and even Aardvark - a startup that Google bought in March; each with the same idea - Trying to find answers to your questions using the collective knowledge of your social network and beyond.

In fact, Facebook Questions is also going to come out quite soon - an application that Facebook itself believes is its future. So all Google is trying to do is to pull a user's social graph more to its side so that it can be leveraged upon to create a social search experience very similar to the one Aardvark currently provides (using Facebook Connect though).

The Best versus All

With its Graph API, the success of its already established developer platform and the introduction of social plugins at this year's f8 - especially the Like button, Facebook now aggregates the best on the web. Or in other words, Facebook indexes the stuff people are actually interested in. This is in direct contrast to Google which indexes the entire web. While Google relies on its PageRank, Facebook relies on its users. To put it to context, consider this, would you want to frequently search for stuff on the overwhelming pile of data which is the Internet or would you like the best come to you as a feed which you can filter down exhaustively using your connections and interests till you finally get what you want? Think about it.

Presently, the control of your social graph and mine has become very important for all Internet companies whose services even remotely depend on it and Google has understood that. Experts including Techcrunch's Micheal Arrington feel that these attempts taken by Google to break in are for the good of everyone as it is about time Facebook had a worthy competitor considering the high dissatisfaction rate among users. But as to whether the product that Google has in store for us will have the potential to defeat the social giant with its 500 million users, we will only know when it goes live.