Samsung today denied that it will jump into social networking with a "Facebook-like" service.
"There have been inquiries and a few articles claiming that Samsung Electronics is going to offer a Facebook-like service, being developed under a code-name called 'Samsung Facebook.' However this is not true and the rumor is groundless," Samsung said in a Thursday blog post.
Reports of Samsung's Facebook-like service first cropped up in the Korea Times, which said that Samsung was developing "a social networking service it hopes could eventually compete with Facebook," which would be accessible via various Samsung devices.
The Times pointed to Family Story – a social service that has been available on Samsung TVs, smartphones, and tablets since February that focuses on photo sharing, chatting, and schedule reminders – as a framework from which Samsung could build out its social offering.
Samsung, however, argued that the notion was farfetched. "It is true that we currently are working on upgrading 'Family Story' as we always thrive to provide consumers with enhanced experiences, but this is far from a 'Samsung Faceboook' as some are claiming it to be," the company wrote.
When it comes to social, companies have struggled to compete against Facebook, which now has more than 901 million members globally. Just this week, there were reports that Apple will abandon its Ping music social service in the next major update of iTunes. It will instead offer deep Facebook integration in iOS 6.
