Google Maps Turning Into A Social Network?

Although it might sound a little bit crazy, Google Maps is slowly turning into a social network. Sort of... First, the Mountain View company implemented the My Maps function which allows the consumers to create their own maps and share them with other Google Maps users. Today, the Profile Pages are officially rolled out and enables any of you to see more details about a certain consumer who built maps and published them on the web. Only one more thing needed and Google Maps is really a social network: a communication tool. Obviously, Google Talk would represent the best idea and would have two advantages: it would help the Google Maps users communicate on the web and will attract more users since it's a well-known fact that Google Talk is not an application as popular as its rivals.

The Profiles implemented by Google allow you to write down some details about you such as name, nickname, occupation, location and other information. A profile page allows other viewers to access all the details you enter as well as reviews and maps designed by the owner.

"Starting today, you can find out more information about the people behind these contributions through their user profile pages. For example, if you stumble upon a cool map of a bike route, you can hover over the creator's nickname and see a snippet of information about them," Jess Lee, Google Maps Product Manager, wrote today.

The most important thing of this service is that you can implement photos in maps in a matter of seconds which would also support the idea of a social network. However, it might be only a crazy idea to think that Google Maps turns into a social network service but let's wait a while and see what happens. One thing is sure: the Mountain View super giant plans to build a powerful community around Google Maps which would be able to contribute with maps and information able to cover the entire world.