Schmidt preaches 'deep integration' desire with Facebook

Google chairman Eric Schmidt reckons that Mountain View's decision to keep invites to its latest social network to a minimum is already starting to pay off for the company.

The company used the same tactic at the launch of its largely forgotten nearly real-time Google Wave communication tool. However after the initial frenzy to sign-up to the product died down, disappointed users quickly abandoned Wave. Down the line, so did Google.

Facebook announced this week that it had hooked up with shortly-to-be-if-cleared-by-regulators-Microsoft-owned Skype, which is a clear acknowledgment that social networks need to get serious about VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).

The likes of Reuters

Schmidt told the likes of Reuters and the Wall Street Journal that there was plenty of room for other social networks alongside Google+ to wiggle around in online.

Similarly, in recent months the company has failed several times to penetrate Facebook's famously sealed-off network. Just this week, Mark Zuckerberg's company blocked a Google Chrome extension that allowed users to export information about their Facebook "friends" so that data could be funnelled into rival services.