Gmail Getting a Facebook-Inspired Makeover

In the real world, one factor that is used as a gauge for when you have arrived is when even the bigwigs want to be like you. This fact may be subject to argument, but we could not think of a better analogy when we read various reports sharing that Google’s Gmail is off to try and challenge Facebook and provide what it can offer.

A feature on USA Today shares that Google will be beefing the Gmail application up with social media tools that are unmistakably Facebook-esque. Among these are the incorporation of photo and video sharing within Gmail as well as a tool that can be used to provide status updates. There will reportedly be a press conference at the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, where the new features will be presented.

At this time, Google still reigns supreme as far as visitor traffic is concerned. It is hailed as the “number one most visited website” by measurement service ComScore Media Metrix, with 173 million visitors from the US alone in December. This figure marks a 16% increase from the site’s performance the same period the previous year.

Facebook, however, is catching up. It placed as number four among the most visited sites in December with 111.8 million visitors. Their rate of increase from December of the previous year, however, is more significant: the increase was at 105%.

Google is reportedly realizing the significance of social media and is now trying to add social-media oriented services. Analyst Greg Sterling commented, though, that Facebook can never take away the “search” crown from Google – which is what Google is best known for anyway.