You might have noticed your friends' mugshots popping up on your Gmail page of late and a black strip over the Google search page. These are subtle signs of Google rolling out a new social networking product, the search giant's answer to Facebook at last.
Google+, which the company released selectively on Tuesday, is meant to be more private, smarter, and at the same time more pervasive than other social networking sites. It could also be integrated with your mail, search and news functions.
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Google said it is all kosher - just a nice way to be in touch. "With a smile, a laugh, a whisper or a cheer, we connect with others every single day," said Vic Gundotra, Google's senior vice president, engineering.
Gundotra, a former Microsoft veteran of Indian origin, led Google's efforts at social media, including Buzz. His Google+ profile says: "Fell in love with the power of software at age 11, and am still in love."
The man behind the project stressed on the subtlety of relationships broken by rigid online tools, saying, "We aim to fix it." In his rollout blog, Gundotra took many digs at Facebook: "Today's online services turn friendship into fast food -wrapping everyone in "friend" paper."
