Google is in talks with several top online game developers as part of a bid to develop a social network service that could compete with Facebook, according to the Wall Street Journal. Developers in talks with Google include Playdom, Playfish, and Zynga. In addition, Google has recently invested 0 million in Zynga. 

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has refused to directly confirm that Google is developing a social network, but has stated that any such service would not be a direct copy of Facebook. It is believed Google's interest in developing a social network stems from the ad-driven nature of its business, as brands increasingly pour their ad spending into Facebook and Twitter instead of Google's AdSense. 

A successful Google social network could seriously upset the balance of power in the social and online game industries. Major brands are interested in social games as a way of connecting directly with consumers, but right now Facebook essentially controls how social games communicate with users of its platform. 

News that Google was working on a more serious bid to enter the social network business first surfaced as a series of rumors first reported by Digg CEO Kevin Rose late last month. Rose reports that the new network will be called Google Me. The project was confirmed by Quora founder and former Facebook CTO Adam D'Angelo.

Social Revolution 

Facebook is also trying to move into the main way social games monetize, through virtual goods and microtransactions. Facebook is encouraging a steady stream of developers like CrowdStar, RockYou, and Wooga to commit to exclusive use of its Facebook Credits virtual currency in their games. When users buy virtual goods through Facebook Credits, Facebook gets 30% of the transaction fee.

Google already operates its own payment system, Google Checkout, that would charge social developers a much lower transaction fee. Google could, in theory, use Checkout as the core of a payments platform it launched as part of a new social network built with social gaming as a major intended function. Facebook did not support an applications platform at all until 2007, three years after its launch. 

A Google social network isn't an assured success. There's heavy competition in the space, both from incumbent services like MySpace and newer entertainment-oriented services like Hi5. Google's previous foray into social media, Google Buzz, was broadly criticized for creating privacy concerns for Gmail users who never expressly consented to use of the service. 

WSJ's report does indicate that Buzz and Gmail would be most likely used as components of an eventual Google social network. Google also already owns Orkut, a smaller social network that has some traction in foreign territories. Google has allowed game developers to create games for its iGoogle homepage product for a few years now, but these games haven't taken off the way Facebook games have.