4. Google Me - Five mobile social networks you need to follow

You're absolutely correct--there is no mobile social network called Google Me. At least not yet. But it's coming. Google's focus on location-specific services--and the advertising revenues that come with them--makes it inevitable.

Rumors about the so-called Google Me project first surfaced in late June, when Digg founder Kevin Rose posted a now-deleted Twitter message reading "Ok, umm, huge rumor: Google to launch Facebook competitor very soon 'Google Me,' very credible source." Early Facebook exec Adam D'Angelo--co-founder of Q&A search solution Quora--later corroborated Rose's tweet, explaining Google "realized that Buzz wasn't enough and that they need to build out a full, first-class social network. They are modeling it off of Facebook. Unlike previous attempts (before Buzz at least), this is a high-priority project within Google. 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 execs have since issued a series of non-denials, further igniting industry speculation on what's to come.

As D'Angelo points out, Google is no stranger to social networking. The aforementioned Google Buzz launched in February 2010--the handset-optimized version of the service integrates Gmail with social networking features. "Google Buzz lets you share Web links, photos, videos and more with those who are important to you," wrote Google Mobile product manager Punit Singh Soni on the Official Google Mobile Blog. "Rather than simply creating a mobile version of Buzz, we decided to take advantage of the unique features of a mobile device--in particular, location." Google Buzz for mobile allows users to post status updates and comments directly from their smartphones, additionally using location to identify places in the immediate vicinity; users can select those sites to add as tags to their posts, or read what others have posted about a particular landmark.

Prior to Buzz, Google entered location-based social networking with Latitude, a friend-finder solution introduced in early 2009. More than a million mobile subscribers signed up in the first week, and in May 2010, Google said the service now tops 3 million active users, adding that more than 8 million users have signed up since the solution went live. Despite the attention heaped on rivals like Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt, Latitude continues to grow 30 percent month-over-month, with over 10 percent of Android smartphone owners now using the service. Those numbers alone make it clear that when (not if) Google gets serious about social networking, it's going to pose a serious threat.