Google is going after Facebook. A leaked video contains details on Google's plans to integrate a number of its offerings (think Picasa, GTalk, Calendar, Reader and more) into what the movie refers to as "activity streams." Activity streams can be subscribed to by friends, creating a way to track and update what you and your friends are up to, ??? la Facebook's feeds.
The information comes from an internal Google video discovered by a reader of Google Blogscoped. The video, which had accidentally been posted publicly, has since been removed, but Google Blogscoped has some details here.
The overall gist of the video is that Google wants to take its existing set of applications and integrate them around Google Reader. Google Reader will become, not just a way to track news items, but also where you can see what your friends are up to.
Now granted, you can already do that to some extent, but you need to set things up by hand. What Google would like to do is automate and streamline the process — as well as add more data to the mix.
Plaxo has been arguing that the key piece of data for an open social network (i.e. one not tied to any specific site) is the address book, but judging by this video, Google thinks the feed reader is the key.
In some sense I would argue that both of them are correct. “Activity streams” are useless without a way to identify and manage the streams you're interested in — which seems to necessitate a good address book system, something Google currently lacks — but address books are only a starting point, not a means of gathering data.
Aside from a set up that could threaten Facebook, there's some other interesting tidbits in the talk. For instance, Google is planning some considerably upgrades for Google Reader, including a new way for publishers to notify Google of updates.
A means of notifying aggregators of updates to your feed is one of the key missing elements of syndicated content. Yes, you can ping some sites, but there's no official standard — something Google wants to change.
Other changes possibly coming to Reader include some more social features for sharing items with your friends and a new recommendations feature based on your existing subscriptions. Also, expect an update with greater internationalization sometime next week.
I've really come to love Google Reader after making the switch from a desktop app earlier this year, but I must say the idea of tracking my friends via Reader never occurred to me (aside from a few Flickr feeds I subscribe to). Still, the more I think about this video, the more I think it's a great idea. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Here's some interesting statistical tidbits from the video:
See Also:
