Google is entering the social media realm, (oh wait, they already have and now it’s just becoming news). If you type Google Social into any search engines’ news section you will come up with thousands of articles harping on the release that Google is going social. How are they doing this? Well, all the mainstream media seems to care about is the new Twitter and Facebook updates that will be integrated into gmail, (along with video and photo sharing opportunities). This may seem like big news, but the real Google 3.0 has already dove into the pool of the social web.

Google Sidewiki–-Sidewiki is a conversation tool that praises freedom of speech. You can essentially add your opinion or explanation on any website using the Sidewiki feature which can be accessed with every popular browser. All of your Sidewikis are collected and placed within your Google Profile. What is a Google Profile you ask? It is simply a page where you can bookmark all of your favorite communities and websites, you can upload images to share, attach Youtube videos or run RSS for your Sidewiki conversations (it also has a live update of your twitter status). If this doesn’t resemble Social Media, I don’t know what does.

The point is, Google has been creating its own social for years, and it’s only now when they include Twitter and Facebook status updates on Gmail that they are getting any attention. Twitter and Facebook are simply an iconic expression of a small part of social media. We have time and time again seen these giant Social communities come and go. If you are trying to develop an idea of where social media is headed, sign up for a community outside the realm of Twitter and Facebook (try our Social Den for ideas). Or how about simply registering for, and supporting some great online forums, isn’t it time we gave these guys (mostly non-profit) the social media credit they deserve?