Google Inc., stepping up competition with Facebook Inc., will add a layer of social- networking features to its main products, Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt said.
The changes will come in the fall of this year, Schmidt said today at a press briefing in Arizona. He declined to elaborate. The remarks followed comments by a Facebook executive that Google was building a new social-networking site.
The company is playing catch-up with Facebook, the top social-networking service, which passed Google as the most- visited U.S. website earlier this year. Weekly traffic at Facebook exceeded Google’s for the first time in March, according to Experian Hitwise. Google’s current social services, including its Buzz and Orkut features, haven’t been able to match Facebook’s growth.