Google+ launched to take on Facebook

Google introduced a social networking service called the Google+ project which happens to look a lot like Facebook.

Remember Google Buzz? What about Orkut,or Google Wave? Google has tried several times,without much success,to take on Facebook and master social networking. Now it is making its biggest effort yet.

On Tuesday,Google introduced a social networking service called the Google+ project which happens to look a lot like Facebook. The service,which is initially available to a select group of Google users who will soon be able to invite others,will let people share and discuss status updates,photos and links,much as they do on Facebook.

But the Google+ project will be different in one significant way,which Google hopes will be enough to convince people to use yet another social network.

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It is meant for sharing with groups like colleagues,roommates or hiking friends not with all of ones friends or the entire Web. It also offers group text messaging and video chat.

In real life,we have walls and windows and I can speak to you knowing whos in the room,but in the online world,you get to a Share box and you share with the whole world, said Bradley Horowitz,a vice president for product management at Google,who is leading the companys social efforts with Vic Gundotra,a senior vice president for engineering. We have a different model.

When it comes to social networking,Google finds itself in an unusual position,one that its competitors in web search know all too well: playing catch-up with a service that dominates the market.

The debut of Google+ will test whether Google can overcome its past stumbles in this area and deal with one of the most pressing challenges facing the company. At stake is Googles status as the most popular entry point to the Web.CLAIRE CAIN MILLER