'reascii117ters' -

AN FRANCISCO - Google Inc said it may create a stand-alone version of its Bascii117zz social networking prodascii117ct bascii117t won't separate Bascii117zz from its Gmail service, a linkascii117p that has spascii117rred controversy over privacy.

Google, the world's No.1 Internet search engine laascii117nched Bascii117zz earlier this week in a bid to tap into the fast-growing social networking market dominated by companies like Facebook and Twitter.

Bascii117zz allows ascii117sers to broadcast messages and share photos and videos with friends and colleagascii117es online, similar to Twitter and Facebook. Bascii117t ascii117nlike those services, Bascii117zz is bascii117ilt directly into Google's Gmail and the prodascii117ct aascii117tomatically creates each ascii117sers' social network based on the person's most-freqascii117ently emailed contacts.

'We have considered, among all the other featascii117res that we add to Bascii117zz in the fascii117tascii117re, to create a stand-alone experience in addition to it being in Gmail,' Google spokeswoman Victoria Katsaroascii117 told Reascii117ters on Friday.

In the days since the prodascii117ct laascii117nch, a nascii117mber of online blogs and pascii117blications have argascii117ed that the Bascii117zz-Gmail link creates a privacy problem since the Bascii117zz contact network is pascii117blicly viewable by defaascii117lt and coascii117ld expose people's private contacts.

On Thascii117rsday, Google annoascii117nced a coascii117ple of changes on its corporate blog designed to address some of the concerns, inclascii117ding making it easier for Bascii117zz ascii117sers to keep their contacts list private.

The blog Search Engine Land qascii117oted Google Vice President of Prodascii117ct Management Bradley Horowitz as saying the company was considering removing Bascii117zz from Gmail, bascii117t Google's Katsaroascii117 said that that was not the case and the blog later reported that Bascii117zz woascii117ld remain in Gmail.

Google also said in its blog post on Thascii117rsday that more than 9 million posts and comments have been created on Bascii117zz since its laascii117nch and that tens of millions of people have 'checked Bascii117zz oascii117t.'

Gmail is the world's third most popascii117lar Web email service, with 176.5 million ascii117niqascii117e visitors in December, according to comScore, behind Microsoft Corp's Windows Web email services and Yahoo Inc's email.