Google to add social networking features to Google Mail

Posted on 9 Feb 2010 at 11:12

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is set to unveil new features on its flagship Google Mail service that will alert users to their friends' status and media updates. It is thought that initially the updates will come from other Google services such as Picasa and YouTube, but the real question is which other social networking services will be integrated.

Google account users can already update their status via Google's Talk instant messaging service, but the Google Talk status feature is more akin to an away message and the message is only available to those who have the application open. The new Google Mail update will most likely arrange all your friends' updates in a single timeline page.

However, some commentators have pointed out that Google Mail automatically adds people who contact you via email to your address book, whereas popular social networking sites work on the basis of discovery and explicit relationship building. Basically, your Google contacts may not be the sort of people you want to share your every move with, and your social networking friends may not be the sort of people you want to share your email with.

It's unlikely the move will prove popular with existing Facebook and Twitter users if updates from those services are not included. However, it's good to see Google joining the dots between its services, which otherwise often sit in isolation and aren't well integrated with each other.

Author: Barry de la Rosa

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