Andrew Nimick Point Concept twitter.com/andrewnim

Intriguing news this morning. It seems (according to Readwriteweb and some others) that Google is set to announce another attempt to enter the social network space. It previous attempts have failed to gain traction and draw any users away from the likes of Facebook.

Buzz, which could have been so good as a micro/ full blogging social platform failed because they got the privacy issues so wrong.

If RWW is right on who are working on this project, called "Circles" and the privacy organization co hosting the event, it means Google have learned the lessons and involved people who can guide them.

While a lot of the news is still very speculative it seems that Circles aims to have a return to controlled levels of interaction. So you may share one thing with family and another with friends, then yet another with "friends"; what we used to call acquantances.

This layering of privacy is my biggest issue with Facebook (that and who owns your data) and why I prefer Twitter. Facebook makes me want to think its cosy and personal when it is not and Twitter tells me its open for everyone to read "so post with care"

As with all Google wants us to conduct our social interactions on its service so it can make money by advertising to us. I don't mind too much if the adds are targeted and as long as we have an agreement and I have some control as with Gmail.

It will be interesting to see what eventuates and if it fairs better than Wave and Buzz , both of which had great potential but failed in application.