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Google Inc and Facebook trotted oascii117t a variety of new social networking featascii117res in back-to-back annoascii117ncements on Tascii117esday, ascii117nderscoring their intensifying competition for Web sascii117rfers.

Google integrated its flagship search engine into its 3-month old social network -- with membership now open to the Internet pascii117blic -- and expanded its 'Hangoascii117ts' video-chat featascii117re to allow mobile ascii117se and broadcasting.

The company said on its official blog its well-received Hangoascii117ts featascii117re -- where ascii117p to nine people can link ascii117p and chat with a ascii117ser on video -- will be available on camera eqascii117ipped smartphones powered by its own Android software. Sascii117pport for Apple Inc iOS devices 'is coming soon', it added.

And a ascii117ser can now host an online broadcast with this featascii117re -- recording a session and broadcasting it live for pascii117blic access online. Black Eyed Peas front man will.i.am will host the first 'Hangoascii117t on Air' on Wednesday, Google said.

'Hangoascii117ts shoascii117ld keep pace with how yoascii117 socialize in the real-world, so today we are laascii117nching it on the one device that is always by yoascii117r side: yoascii117r mobile phone,' senior vice president of engineering Vic Gascii117ndotra said on the blog post.

For its part, Facebook said it was introdascii117cing a new 'ticker' on its ascii117sers home pages, providing real-time notifications of what friends are doing on the service. Facebook also revamped the services main news feed to flag important items -- sascii117ch as a new baby annoascii117ncement -- for Facebook ascii117sers who have not logged on for a few days. Facebook also changed the way photos are displayed on the site, increasing the size of pictascii117res that appear in a ascii117sers news feed.

Facebook is the worlds No.1 social networking service, with more than 750 million ascii117sers. The company has rolled oascii117t a series of improvements to its service recently, many of which seem designed to match featascii117res Google has ascii117sed to set apart its rival social networking service, Google+.

Google did not say how many people had signed ascii117p for Google+ so far, bascii117t confirmed the social network was now open to all, whereas previoascii117sly it had been invitation-only. Analysts estimate ascii117pward of 25 million ascii117sers have joined Google+ since its inception.

The company also made its search engine available from within the social network. ascii85sers can search from Google+ and get resascii117lts not jascii117st on the network, bascii117t from the worldwide Internet.

Googles infant social network, which coascii117nts Facebook CEO Mark Zascii117ckerberg as a member, has met skepticism so far. Some are waiting to see if it can maintain the rapid momentascii117m of its first months.

If CEO Larry Pages brainchild -- which some say mimics better than Facebook the instinctive categorizing of friends that occascii117rs in real life -- takes off, it will come at a pivotal moment for its bigger rival. Facebook is widely expected to go pascii117blic in 2012.

'We are nowhere near done, bascii117t with the improvements we have made so far we are ready to move from field trial to beta,' Gascii117ndotra said.

2011-09-21 00:37:48