When it comes to a force in social networks, Google and Yahoo have tried and largely failed. To be sure, Google has Orkut, which is very popular in Brazil and the Philippines, but not the United States. For its part, Yahoo has largely pulled the plug on Yahoo 360th But it is clear that MySpace and Facebook (Bebo and the United Kingdom) are still firmly on the top of the social network heap.

So now Google and Yahoo are among other tack - turning itself into the social sites without setting up a social network.

“We are not trying to another social network,” said Yahoo President Susan Decker on Tuesday, while the company’s earnings conference call. “Much more is by linking the users favourite destinations and content with their friends, families and communities, we can better relevance, on a scale that nobody else has achieved.” Two days later, the company has the new Chief Technology Officer, Ari Balogh, speaking on the Web-2, 0 Expo in San Francisco, a bit on the idea. “We do not believe that the social as a target,” said Balogh. “We are of the opinion that the social dimension.”