BUENOS AIRES–Facebook is not known for it’s hostile or backhanded tactics. This especially sets apart their actions which were exposed over the past few days as being a move made in desperation or fear for what Google is about to bring. It’s important to operate under the assumption that both of these moguls have more information on each others product development than anyone in the public. Corporate espionage is just as rampant as it has ever been and the race for the market share of advertisers’ dollars is on. Paying Burson-mc to start a whispering campaign among bloggers could be a sign that Facebook is actually getting nervous about Google’s efforts to become more social after Larry Page jumped to the helm in January.Google hasn’t ever been taken seriously in the social media frontier. With 15 past failures, it is no wonder. They’ve essentially been a data mining operation and seemingly among the most clumsy of companies out there when it comes to user interface. (One can hardly say that their daily doodles can be considered an addition to user interface.) Larry Page has a different idea about the company, however, and seems to believe that Google is poised to make a real entrance into the social media arena. Page instated a bonus for every Googler depending on the search giants social performance and success over the next year. Such a move indicates Google’s seriousness about this direction.Google has the burden of being massive though. Anytime they release a new product, especially one as public and open as social media, the PR effects would be catastrophic if it does not measure up. Google knows that the entire time their product is released that it will be measured against Facebook. Why doesn’t it have this feature? Why doesn’t it look as pretty as Facebook? Why isn’t it laid out more like Facebook? Why can’t they make a better UX? They will be under the microscope in a very large way and another blunder like Buzz may just put them down for the count in any software development realm.Because of this they will start small. As you can see from the latest I/O Conference, Google is releasing a button similar to the Facebook Like or ReTweet button called +1. They’ve finally harnessed Web 2.0 (which isn’t easy for a data mining company) and are going to integrate a social ranking system and even may base part of their algorithm for their SERPs on the recommendations of the people. For now though it will be part of what they call “Social Search” which will allow you to search the content of people you follow across social media sites. They’ve poorly integrated +1 into Social Circle and Content previously thought to be calledGoogle Circles. This is a little disappointing, but it is a step in the social direction. While it is not a platform they’re doing what they do best, aggregating data.It’s amazing that they haven’t grasped onto a concept such as using social recommendations in their SERPS algorithm sooner, but as was previously pointed out Google has a hard time when they want to launch something social. They have an even more difficult time being able to pivot directions being the mammoth that they are. They are not a startup anymore so no matter how much they try to maintain their startup-like culture, they do not have the mobility that they would like.Though this is a small step, it is the beginning of steps they will take as they move to the social web of the future. As they develop a more pleasing social media platform (most likely to be the fruition of the rumor of Google Circles), they will continue to make all of their applications more social as they try to transcend this wall between them and companies like Facebook and Twitter.Page said in his memo to Googlers about their upcoming bonus change that not only employees that work directly with social media efforts would be held accountable. Page also expected people in every department to show projects to their friends, family and to pass new ideas along. There is no doubt within the company or externally that they will try yet again to grab ahold of this valuable market.Facebook claimed yesterday that the smear campaign was not a smear campaign, but rather a sort of social duty to make the public aware of the information that is being catalogued about them (i.e. privacy issues which seems a bit hypocritical coming from Facebook), and the social network does not appreciate Google using Facebook’s information in it’s own social-networking service according to The Daily Beast. Facebook’s hiring of Burson-Marsteller and the tactics that each of the companies engaged in were telling in the very least and not good show of faith in transparency for a social media monster that continually is attacked for privacy and transparency issues.Between Page’s direction, Google’s recent moves, and Facebook’s smear campaign against the search engine it is safe to assume that Google has a project deep in the works. You can bet that there will be several privacy concerns that Google will have to carefully address before launching. We’re speculating at the rate the puzzle is coming together that Google has at least another year before we see any actual platform come busting through the door…