Why iGoogle, not orkut, will compete with Facebook

Google updated their iGoogle developer sandbox today by integrating Google Talk. While this is not particularly newsworthy on its own, it does give insight into the future Google has planned for iGoogle -- and how it is aiming for Facebook's jugular.

Google Talk has been available as a gadget within iGoogle for quite some time. the new sandbox merely integrates Google Talk as part of the iGoogle frame, rather than within an optional gadget.



While it may appear to be a small feature addition, it's impact is far more significant for two reasons.

First, it reveals how Google is going to develop its social graph.

Users have been asked to create their own social connections since the first social networks began. To become networked, you ask your friend to join the site and become part of your network. Each successive social network followed the same model. Facebook did not leverage the existing social graph on MySpace to build its own graph. And orkut did not use any existing social graph to build its network. They all depended on the traditional handshake.

Google doesn't have as comprehensive of a social graph than any of the social network leaders today in the typical sense. Most people think of orkut as their social network offering and it lags behind the competition. But Google has a more compelling social graph. Instead of building a social graph with a handshake, Google can utilize Google Talk (and Gmail) to build a larger, though less personal, social graph.

Interestingly, Google Talk only became a player in the chat industry after it incorporated Gmail's "social graph" -- it's Contacts manager. Without Gmail, Google Talk would be unable to overcome the network effects of existing chat solutions like AIM. Instead, Google added your Gmail contacts to your Google Talk chat list and integrated the two services. Your email contacts became your friends automatically, thereby bypassing the network effect. It succeeded.

Now, since Google Talk is much more portable than Gmail, Google is using Google Talk to expand its social graph be integrating it into other services. They introduced an iGoogle gadget, a chatback code snippet for web sites, and now most significantly, it will become a part of every iGoogle homepage. Google Talk will help Google overcome the network effect and will expand Google's social graph to the scale of Facebook and MySpace.

Second, it shows how Google plans to replace Facebook -- with iGoogle, not orkut.

Consider iGoogle's history. It began as a whiteboard. It was a sparse Google homepage with space to plugin gadgets. It was essentially a copy of existing personalized homepages like Yahoo's, but it added some AJAX magic to improve usability. The only feature introduction that modified the layout of iGoogle was the introduction of tabs, which was largely a yawner.

Google didn't stray far from iGoogle's sparse layout even with the introduction of OpenSocial in its iGoogle sandbox. OpenSocial's highly publicized introduction initially left out iGoogle entirely. The integration with iGoogle appeared as a secondary priority. When Google finally introduced social functions for gadget developers, iGoogle still hardly looked like a Facebook competitor. The iGoogle service was still merely an aggregator and Google gave no sign it was going to become a platform. The blogosphere and Google itself set it up as OpenSocial (MySpace, orkut, etc.) vs. Facebook.

Now consider the chat integration -- iGoogle is becoming a platform.

Integrating Google Talk shows that they are not restricting iGoogle's role to that of an aggregator or whiteboard. It is the beginning of a highly functional home page. Like Facebook, iGoogle is becoming more of a hub where you can chat, email, and share from the same page.

Google gadgets are increasing in complexity. Not only can gadgets speak OpenSocial, but this month they will be acquiring multiple views which, among other things, allows developers to monetize their gadget from within iGoogle. Google Gadgets are beginning to look less like feeds and more like Facebook Applications.

Undoubtedly, Google will re-release the stale Gmail and Google Reader gadgets to take advantage of the multiple views. Developers are more incentivized to build rich gadgets now they have more opportunity to monetize them. Google Talk will continue to provide developers with the expanding social graph they need.

This model is different from the traditional social network. It is less personal since adding to the graph does not depend on a handshake. There is less focus on profiles, so there is less private information. Privacy controls will lie primarily with the gadget developers and less with the platform supplier.

On the other hand, the graph will be larger. People avoid Facebook and MySpace because they don't understand the benefit. But when they use iGoogle for their own purposes, they become part of the graph anyway. They can see their contacts sharing book recommendations and photos without signing up for a traditional social network. It makes participating easier.

Which model do you prefer?