When I approach social networking applications, I like to split out what you can do on your own site from what you can do through other social networking sites like facebook. This article refers to the latter, and it looks like Google is putting the heat on facebook:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/technology/31google.html?_r=1&ex=13515...
The beauty of this is that their competition will result in better services for us. An obvious statement, I know, but when it comes to Google, they really like to give away services and this has been extremely helpful in helping education reach students more effectively. The new applications that will come out of this competition will likely have a dramatic effect on what we as educators can do with these sites to help improve our online classrooms. It may be confusing at first as people choose "sides", but in the end, I see this as a very beneficial development.
Opening the box
First, Facebook published an API set to allow users to add in their own apps. The edge of the black box started to fray. MySpace suddenly became not cool. Google (with their iGoogle app) had already done that. This new development is somewhat different. Code named MakaMaka (already in Wikipedia as "a project...to incorporate Google Reader as a way to display a news feed of personal information"), Google is trying to tie together several of their applications. On the surface, this is a good idea because it tears a hole in the side of the black box. It makes me a little nervous that my GMail usage can be tied to my search histories. However, I think the point of the announcement is that we've got a bunch of small pieces out there (mail in one place, photos in another, calendars in yet another) and what Google is offering is way to loosely join them. The media likes to position it as out-Facebooking Facebook but I see it actually as something larger. Maybe even a new LMS.