Google doesn't really seem to be invested in competing with the likes of Facebook, Myspace, and other large social networking sites. Of course they want to index them, provide their search features and have positive business relationships, but why are there
public profiles available for anyone with a Google account? There are no social media-esque features (pick friends, post updates, photos, etc.), so why -- other than more data (which they always seem interested in), what's in it for them?
Yes, Orkut showed up with a bang a few years ago, but it sizzled out pretty quickly in North America and, from what I understand, Europe. With the amount of money going through Facebook ads daily, I can't see the big G being uninterested in getting advertising in front of so many eyes.
Are these profiles a testing ground for a competitor to LinkedIn? Where are you and who do you work for, who have you worked for, what schools have you gone to -- sounds about right for the information end of things.
What if it's the precursor to
Google Facebook Gbook, or Gspace? How convenient it be to have your entire web experience (blog, search, video, social/networking) tied together with one account? Cue paranoid ramblings about big brother, but if the quality of the other products (beta or no) is there, it sounds pretty nice to me. OpenID has been around for quite a while, but it hasn't seemed to gain much real momentum, but so many already use Google's personalized services for so many things, why wouldn't they try to bring as much as they can under their umbrella? More usefulness, more page views, more ads, more money.
Making money through being both useful and convenient. No, that's not evil, but it is clever.
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