There have been reports that Google has been working on a facebook rival entitled 'Google Me', due for launch 'very soon'. This product looks like it might be the final death knell of the failed social media project Google Wave. (lets not even mention Google Buzz).

Part of the problem of Google Wave, apart from the lack of market saturation enjoyed by the more established social media sites, is that it's a bit too steep a learning curve to start using. The potential for creating and distibuting google aps via the wave is immense, but if no one is on the network, its neigh on impossible to get the giant ball rolling.

One possible step the google might take is to automatically create a google me account for everyone that has a google account. There are some hints that the corporate strategy is moving towards this. Recently, Google announced that all youtube users will require a google account to access it. Its also quite likely that the Google Me network will be an extension - or even a replacement - of the google profiles service.

Google has also been aquiring other gaming companies including possibly Slide, Zygna and playfish. It is likely that these gaming services will be integrated into Google Me.