Google has announced a fairly major upgrade to its iGoogle personal homepage with the introduction of social gadgets.
As the name suggests, it’s a way for users to add a range of interactive elements to their personalized page, including tools that make collaboration with other users easier.
A growing list of social gadgets includes games, prominent blogs and shared to-do lists.
All very nice, but I get the sense that Google is pointing at Facebook and saying “if we can’t own you, we’ll simulate you”
There may well be millions of people using iGoogle, but I can could on one hand the number of personal contacts that I collaborate with that way.
If there’s really good integration with Google’s other tools then maybe I’ll be interested, but if I want to play chess or Scrabble online, I’ll go to Facebook (possibly Yahoo! Games if I want to play anonymously and be shouted insults at by prepubescent trolls).
Heck, iGoogle doesn’t even have Bejeweled!
No doubt Google will be pushing this over the coming months. Your mileage may vary as to how useful this is, but personally I’m a minimalist and I don’t need a startup page with extra bells and whistles on it.
If you use and love iGoogle, tell me why this is a good idea.
Originally posted on August 13, 2009 @ 3:52 am