I'm hesitant about the social layers search stuff. Honestly, the data I put on the web is personal, and it deserves its own respect. Its not just a statistic. If my friend wants to know what I think about something they can email me.
I think it would be a brilliant move by Google to combine their separate services into something similar to Facebook. Google has all the parts, like video (Youtube), pics (Picasa), mini-blogs (Buzz), chat, and e-mail. They do all of this better than Facebook, and add Google Voice on top of it. It's just natural for them to start a social network that integrates all of these different parts.
I think it would be a brilliant move by Google to combine their separate services into something similar to Facebook. Google has all the parts, like video (Youtube), pics (Picasa), mini-blogs (Buzz), chat, and e-mail. They do all of this better than Facebook, and add Google Voice on top of it. It's just natural for them to start a social network that integrates all of these different parts.