Google launches social networking tool

Search engine giant Google has rolled out a brand new tool for its Gmail mail service which will allow users to share photos, web links, videos and status updates, among other features...

Meet Buzz, Google's social networking tool for Gmail, which has currently been made available to only one percent of Gmail inboxes for a ‘test drive', with plans of rolling out to the rest of account holders within a week.

With this tool, Google attempts to carve a niche for it self in the lucrative social networking market which is currently dominated by Facebook and Twitter.

Google said: ‘With more and more communication happening online, the social web has exploded as the primary way to share interesting stuff, tell the world what you're up to in real-time and stay more connected to more people.'

The new service will also be accessible on mobile phones and the company said it would also be launching a version of Buzz for companies to use as a communications tool.

But will Facebook be worried? It seems unlikely, as over 400 million people have now invested plenty of time and effort in building networks of friends. A large number of those people are not Gmail users, so there will have to be a big incentive to move house and start all over again at Buzz.

Twitter may have greater cause for concern. Its audience tends to be the geekier early-adopter types that fled Facebook and will definitely want to try Buzz.

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