Seems like Google doesn't want businesses joining in on the fun yet. They plan to closely integrate Business Profiles with Adwords and other Google products designed to cash in on the billions in corporate sponsorships and ads that businesses are poised to bring into Google's new foray into Social Media. If I were Facebook I'd be scrambling to spitshine my product right now. If Google+ social impact influences search results, I predict a mass exodus off Facebook within the next year, that's if the inevitable doesn't happen first... Facebook Suing Google for Copying Their UI. It sure as hell wouldn't be the first time the search giant was sued. Google allegedly breached an agreement to use PayPal as it's exclusive payment provider and instead rolled out their own product which PayPal insists is entirely based on their technology. Coincidentally timed with Google hiring away senior PayPal Executive Osama Bedier. PayPal and Facebook both better get in line though... Oracle wants a piece of Google first.

I'll admit that I've been slow to adapt to the idea that I'd have to start a whole new social network from scratch. It's still painful to think that I have to start posting the same content in multiple places, and I can already tell you that i''m not about to start doing that. What feels really natural is +1ing content that I like. So far I'm pretty comfortable with the footprint of likes that I've been leaving behind. Google's previous social networking attempts did not quite measure up. Orkut, Jaiku, Dodgeball, Wave and Buzz were really half baked.

Google Plus feels more like a real product than previous efforts and more closely integrated into their other products. Circles still feels very gimmicky and I think the interface is too much of a Facebook clone to really call it innovative. What feels good about Google is that as usual it's by invitation only. That elitist mentality is crucial for establishing a social network of those that are already in, it set's the want factor up a notch or two. I'm not saying that Google will replace Facebook . Don't look for it to knock the Social Kingpin off it's throne anytime soon. I'm am saying.. If I were Facebook, I'd watch my back. Google was a sleeping giant... and now has one eye now WIDE open. If you'd like an invitation, just let me know.

Great Resource: Google+: The Complete Guide

Tech Crunch is reporting yet another Facebook leak. Project Spartan is an undercover outsourced mobile project that Facebook has had about 80 developers working on outside the company. Rumor has it this new platform is based on HTML5 and targets iPhone and iPad users (Mobile Safari). Quoting people familiar with the project "Facebook's goal is to use Apple’s own devices against them to break the stranglehold they have on mobile app distribution,".

Presumably, Spartan is about penetrating the Mobile App market that Apple and Android have had a stranglehold on. Time will tell what Facebook plans to bring to the table.

First reported at Tech Crunch: http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/15/facebook-project-spartan/