Google denies imminent social network launch

Google has dismissed rumours it’s to launch a social network within the next couple of months.

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Over the weekend technology blog The Next Web reported that the search giant will launch Google Circles, offering photo, video and status message sharing, in May as it bids to make its own mark on the English-language social networking space.

However, Google has denied a social network is in the pipeline. Chris Messina, who has been quoted as one of Circles’ key developers, told All Things Digital at the SXSW conference that he didn’t “know what [the story] was talking about”.

Google has launched several social-based products over the years, including Google Buzz and Wave, but has failed to gain ground on Facebook and Twitter.

Wave was a cross-platform personal communication and collaboration tool, which Google dropped last summer due to lack of take-up. A few days after it abandoned Wave it announced its acquisition of social app company Slide.

The search giant already has a social network, Orkut, which is highly popular in Brazil and India. However, despite having more than 100m global users it has failed to take off in English-speaking countries or Europe.

Last month speculation arose over a potential Twitter buyout. Google and Facebook were both understood to be keen to buy Twitter in a deal estimated to be worth $10bn.

This story first appeared on newmediaage.co.uk

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