Sure Facebook privacy issues can be frustrating, but what's the alternative? With more than 400 million users, no other social media platform has been able to touch Facebook's grip on person-to-person networking. But rumors have already started to fly that Facebook may soon face some stiff new competition.

Google is supposedly getting into the market with Google Me, a not-yet-launched, oft-rumored social network that will directly compete with Facebook. Nothing is for certain yet, but more and more sources are saying Google Me does exist, and that could mean good things for all of us. If anyone were to take on Facebook, Google has the engineering talent, deep pockets, and customer loyalty required to give it a fair shot.

Still, Google hasn't had the best track record when it comes to social media attempts. Rather than a boring old list of past efforts, we decided to put together a graphical timeline with text by our very own Stephanie Marcus and graphics by Shane Snow. Let us know what you think of Google Me (if it exists) and if anyone can actually topple Facebook.







EDIT: The graphic has been updated to include Google Lively. Thanks to commenters who pointed out the oversight.

More Google Resources from Mashable:

[img credit: Robert Scoble]