In related news, Google has more money than they know what to do with.

Has anyone that's been online since Friendster going to sign up for another one of these? Even Facebook, like soccer and cigarettes, would be dead in the water if it weren't for little kids, grandpas, and some historically backwards countries entering the digital age.

Or maybe 35 is just too old to care.

I definitely trust Google more than Facebook, especially since Google effectively already has all information ever

"fast becoming"? this has been google's m.o. for a long while.

In related news, the Internets will end in 2020.

It's all your fault.

We just made it so we could swap lab equipment, share code, and arrange beamtime at CERN, but you HAD to spoil it, didn't you?

So, we're pulling the plug.

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, no, you don't have to shout when talking on your cell phone, and, yes, we do mind.

I haven't joined the one's we have. And I also have no intention of ever "joining" one. Nosy people!

Well, considering my FB account (AND my Gmail account) were hacked this morning, and I'm currently locked out of FB, my answer would be, "maybe"...

@7 - update your Flash, Google, Firefox and run Win updates - a whole batch today and last week - then clear your cache and your app caches and history and try again.

No, seriously.

Done that already. I generally run everything through Chrome anyway...

Chrome's pretty good. Some of the FB games aren't working today, mind you, especially FarmVille and other badly written ones that load all the libraries and then time out even if you don't need them.

Given how clueless Facebook is about privacy issues, and their wildly inconsistent and constantly changing privacy policy, I would very much welcome anyone that can knock them out.

Having said that, I'm not entirely convinced that a Google social networking site would be any better in that regard.

This would be the company that built a detailed map of the entire planet that anyone can use for free. The map will provide you with directions and public transit schedules. It lets you bring up photos of what it looks like if you're standing there. Google isn't satisfied with this massive accomplishment and is trying to make their maps 3D so it's easier to navigate e.g. underground train stations with many floors.

Brin and Page set Google up to be a nice place for engineers to work. They succeeded, and the company then proceeded to "draw in all talent in the computer science world." Advertising linked to search provides a good steady source of income that lets engineers get on with making anything they can think of that might be useful to somebody.

You can call this "throwing as much shit at the wall as it can," but in fact Google is deliberately using its fortunate situation, with space to experiment free of market pressures, to make stuff that might be useful even if it's not profitable in itself.

Seriously, that's what the company is like. Name another like that.

You twerps can bitch, but it just makes you bitchy twerps.

It'll be better when they run out of things to call it. Let it die already.

I was thinking what the world really needed was another social networking site that I can sign up for and immediately ignore after growing bored with it after 3 week.

Friendster, MySpace, Facebook......

Facebook will be crushed eventually by another site.

What would be really cool, one of these sites thats really popular in another country should crush facebook. I want those kids to feel betrayed.