Eric Schmidt: Google Really 'Screwed Up' on Social Media

(Newser) – Eric Schmidt didn’t mince words at the D9: All Things Digital conference yesterday, admitting that Google “screwed up” at times during its early social media efforts. Missing out on “the friend thing” and true social functionality was one of his biggest failures, Schmidt admitted during his keynote interview. "In the online world you need to know who you are dealing with," he said. “I clearly knew that I had to do something and I failed to do it." More from his address, via the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Mashable:

• You can expect more social functionality in future Google products; specifically, users can recommend search results to social contacts through the +1 feature rolling out today.
• Google Offers, AKA Google’s Groupon competitor, also kicks off today in Portland. Google Offers and Google Wallet, the company’s new payment system, will launch in more cities later this year.
• The Internet is now dominated by a “gang of four,” Schmidt said: Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon. Mashable points out one notable omission from that list: Microsoft. Schmidt later said Microsoft is “not driving the consumer revolution in the minds of consumers.”
• Another dig at Microsoft? Schmidt noted that if you’re worried about security, “you could get a Mac instead of a PC.”