There’s nothing like rumours of a new Google tool launch to get the industry tongues wagging, and today there’s lots of hype building.

According to the grapevine, Google is on the verge (potentially even today) of releasing a new social app or toolwhich is believed to involved social networking and Gmail.

As there has been no official talk or leaks from the Google office, we’re left to industry expert speculation to predict what the new offering will deliver.

The general consensus is that the new tool will be battling in the highly competitive microblogging arena. Think Twitter and Facebook Status Updates.

Here’s what the industry’s heavyweights have to say on the impending release:

• Wall Street Journal:

Google Inc. is taking a swipe at Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. with a new feature that makes it easier for users of Gmail to view media and status updates shared online by their friends.

• Techcrunch:

Google is planning to unveil a broad new social product on Tuesday that will integrate with at least two existing Google products. Some details emerged earlier today on the Wall Street Journal (“a new feature that makes it easier and faster for users of Gmail to view media and status updates”), but our understanding is that the product goes well beyond a Gmail integration.

• Cnet:

Gmail users can already set their status within the service, but Google plans to expand that into a stream of status updates found in services like Facebook and Twitter,

• Mashable:

…the new features could be thought of more like a TweetDeck or Seesmic , looking to provide an aggregate view of your friends’ social media activities along with the ability to push status updates to the services you use from inside of Gmail. If not, it could be thought of as a major competitor to Twitter andFacebook as Gmail looks to covert its millions of e-mail users into adherents to a whole new breed of social media service.

So I guess we’ll find out in a few hours whether the speculation and rumors deliver or whether Google have actually got something different in store.

I really like the concept of aggregating all your streams into one tool. Given my already heavy dependency on Gmail – it could be quite useful to bring all social streams into Gmail too.

The important question is how its executed. The last thing any Gmail user wants is more noise and distraction in their inboxes.

What do you think?

• Are you a Gmail user?
• Would you like to see social streams integrated into Gmail?
• Do you think Google have other plans? If so – what?

UPDATE: 9th Feb 2010

Google Buzz was launched this morning. It seems the industry experts were on the money, and Google Buzz will act as a new lifestream application built directly into Gmail. It allows users to share updates, photos, videos, and more.

And rather than create a new microblogging service in isolation – it also integrates with many of the existing services available such as Twitter. To get the full picture, watch this video.

Google are still in the process of rolling out Google Buzz to all users, so if you cant see it yet – keep checking over the coming weeks as its sure to appear.

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