Google is moving quickly to eat up the social media space, in its drive to become bigger than big. It has already gone head-to-head with traditional media organisations, since they were essentially supplying Google with news for free.But the media is in a quandary: Google can end up accounting for 50 percent to 70 percent of their traffic.While media companies might be able to pull out of getting their stories listed by Google, they would see their traffic cut by an enormous amount. Not many have made that decision.Now Google is about to do the same for social media.Reports say the company has been testing a new format for its news page, with expandable sections and movable modules, something like the iGoogle interface I constantly switch between and the classic view.The new news section will identify the articles most cited and shared and will also include results from Quora, Gowalla, Google Buzz, Plixi, Me2day and Twitgoo.Social tags for Google Buzz, Google Reader, Twitter and Facebook will allow users to post links and comments directly from the page.The other big giant company out there, Microsoft, is also trying something new. Its attempt looks more like it wants to muscle into Google’s space.The company recently launched its new Windows Live SkyDrive, an online document storage and file sharing site. This is a great deal because the 25G of space the service gives you is free.You get a folder for documents, one for favourites, and another for photos. The interface face works fine.Users can drop documents on to SkyDrive or upload them the usual way. Then click on a link to choose who to share the document with. You can also make the document completely public.Find SkyDrive at http://explore.live.com.Over the course of the past few years, Microsoft has been ever so slowly building free applications people can use, like SkyDrive.While these do not add up to the amount Google is producing through its GoogleLabs, there are 11 applications that range from not bad to pretty good.When at Windows Live, click on the “Essentials” tab. Windows Live Mesh is a syncing program.It allows you to access the most up-to-date document, photo or other files from any one of the computers you use regularly. You can do the same with your browser favourites links. It uses 5G of space on SkyDrive.While I have tried other sync programs, I ended up dropping them due to the hassle and slow speed. Mesh only works on Windows 7 and Windows Vista, so I am out of luck.I have two laptops with Windows 7, while my desktop is on XP, as is my work computer.I end up carrying a fistful of USB keys and constantly updating. I actually carry around five USB keys, each with different tasks I work on.One is labelled “Drupal”, one “Photoshop”, one “Favourites”, and a fourth as “Work”. The fifth I use for any other files I might need.I really like using Microsoft’s Movie Maker. It is one of the easiest ways to put together a video clip without having to pay huge amounts for commercial software.I have not tried the automated theme, in which you choose the shots and photos you want to include in your video. The program then puts it altogether for you. I prefer to do my compiling manually as I have a pretty decent video camera.Microsoft, which is now trying to get rid of the Windows XP fan base, has removed that version of Movie Maker, though I believe you can find it elsewhere on the Internet.Other programs you might find useful are Writer, a blogging app, and Mail, which you can use to manage multiple e-mail accounts.There are lots of better free image editors than Windows Live Photo Gallery, so don’t bother, unless it works for you.If you do have Microsoft Office then you can also use the Office Web Apps function on Windows Live to share files and work on them online, again through SkyDrive.Send any comments to elamin.ahmed@gmail.com.