SAN FRANCISCO — Google opened a new social hub in its e-mail service Tuesday, leaving little doubt that the Internet-search leader is girding for a faceoff with Facebook. The new Gmail channel, called Google Buzz, includes many of the features that have turned Facebook into the Web’s top spot for fraternizing with friends and family.
It comes less than a week after Facebook made changes of its own. Among other things, Facebook now shows a list of friends available for chatting on the left side of the page, similar to where Gmail now displays its chat feature.
Like Facebook, Google Buzz will let Gmail users post updates about what they are doing or thinking and share those with the rest of the world or with only a select group of people. Gmail users also will be able to track other people’s updates and instantly comment on them for everyone else in the social circle to see.
