Samsung to take on Facebook in 2013 with new social network

The social network is fast becoming a bandwagon that all companies want to hitch up to. The latest bit of news to hit the tech grapevine is that big time mobile handset, TV, Chip et al maker, Samsung, is eyeing this segment to launch something big next year. 

The Korean Times recently reported that the company was gearing up to launch a ‘Facebook-like services’, sometime next year. According to The Korean Times, Samsung officials said that their social network can be expected early next year and that it could eventually compete with Facebook. The aim is for this network to also be made available across technology platforms from portable Internet ready devices to the likes of TVs and even cameras, all of which Samsung has their hands in.

``By the end of the year, we will have a polished and finished version of Family Story that will be offered first to Samsung device users for free. The new service will become available in the first quarter of next year at the earliest,’’ a Samsung official told the Korean Times and went on to say``We are confident that the service will be popular globally. That means we need to guard against the possibilities of a data bottleneck. That’s why we want a server-based computing structure and disperse with a network of servers across different countries.’’

Going the Social Network route

With Smart TVs getting to be quite popular these days and cameras following suit with GPS, Wi-Fi and social sharing onboard, technology is moving quickly towards the social domain and everyone wants to cash in on the ‘feeds’. Working hard to boost their software capabilities with “smart” integration of technologies into their devices and competing with independent messengers like WhatsApp or iMessage, their ChatOn messenger is also faring quite well. Their Hub services integrated into their smartphone line ups also provide users with access to popular aspects of the mobile net. 

There’s even talk of their upcoming and yet to be named social networking tying up with Amazon’s cloud computing platform to offer extended services to users. 

At this stage, the Korean technology manufacturer will have to go all out to take on the likes of Facebook who aim at adding billion more to the list of users in their online community. The bigger question is – are we really ready for another social network? What do you think?