Google CEO hopes Scoop trumps Facebook

Eric Schmidt backs new college-recruitment service to be launched this fall at selec universities

The animosity between Facebook and Google is no secret to anyone in the world of technology. Each has large followings of end users and a list of products that are increasingly in direct competition.

So when news broke that Tomorrow Ventures invested in Trumpet Technologies, a Palo Alto-based startup, that is developing a new social networking site called Scoop, it is not a leap to assume that it was with the belief that Scoop has a chance at taking away some of Facebook's market share.

Tomorrow Ventures is Google CEO Eric Schmidt's personal investment vehicle.

Scoop, which plans to focus mostly on recruiting students for the beginning stages of the network, will be released at selected universities some time during the next academic year, though the details of which schools and when exactly the launch will occur are, as yet, undisclosed, but Trumpet is located near the campus of Stanford university, which has lead some to posit that it is a likely choice for the launch.

The platform hopes to go one step above simply allowing users to make status updates. It hopes to provide both a list of events going on currently, both scheduled events like sporting events, and the more impromptu parties and social events that happen on campus every day. Users will also get a personalized list of recommendations, with the events that they are likely to be interested in based on their social circle.

The platform will have a strong mobile component, making use of end users smart phones to attempt their stated goal of becoming a mobile local search platform. This decision is based on the research that Scoop conducted among Ivy League students, which revealed that up to 50% of them have a smart phone with them at school.

Scoop also hopes to make use of Facebook's existing market share, by using Facebook’s programming interfaces. This will allow them  to build a service that integrates closely with it, and perhaps share data at some point down the line.

Both Trumpet Technologies and TomorrowVentures were contacted for comment, but neither provided immediate response.

(Image from Flickr)