14 DAY TRIAL // Google's social ambitions are getting a lot of attention lately, so much so that the company is now trying more than ever to quell speculation. A report yesterday indicated that Google was just about to launch Circles, a full-blown social service that's been in the works at the company, at the SXSW conference. But Google now says that no such product is coming, maybe never.
Read Write Web posted the details on Google Circles, a social network created around the idea that users have different identities and behave differently in different social circles.
This isn't anything revolutionary, Google and others have been talking about this for quite a while. Google even has a thorough research paper about the problem.
Google Circles is built around this, enabling users to share different things with their friends, family, coworkers and so on and keep those groups separate.
Allegedly, open source and standards advocate now working for Google, Chris Messina, along with former Picnik CEO Jonathan Sposato have been working on the project.
Google has been working on a social product for the better part of a year now, something that it's confirmed. Late last year, Google said that it wasn't a stand-alone product, rather a "social layer."
At this point though, Google isn't making any mentions of its work anymore and has denied that Circles is being launched soon or maybe ever. Apparently, Circles is just some research project that may never see the light of day.
In fact, Google likely has several of these research products and several teams working on them at the same time. This is because Google wants to hedge its bets while also maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit within the company.
While nothing significant is being launched soon, most people expect that Google will reveal more at its Google I/O developers conference. And signs of Google's social focus have been slowly trickling out, for example with the revamped Profile pages.