Is everything a potential social network? It would seem that the answer to that question is probably yes. Witness similar plans by Yahoo! and Google to transform their popular email platforms into social networks that will compete with the likes of MySpace and Facebook.

According to a New York Times blog post, both Yahoo and Google see their email systems as key data repositories for what social networks call the social graph -- the connections between people.

Yahoo said it is working on a product it calls Inbox 2.0 that leverages the data contained in email accounts and personal homepages.

"The inbox you have today is based on what people send you, not what you want to see," said Brad Garlinghouse, Yahoo's executive in charge of communication and community project. "We can say, here are the messages from the people you care about most."

According to Garlinghouse, Inbox 2.0 also will be able to link to friends' profile pages, remind users of birthdays and update users on events in a manner similar to Facebook's News Feed.

Garlinghouse pointed out that much of the data required to make such a system work is already in Yahoo's hands. However, that information is presently dormant.

Google declined to comment for The New York Times, but sources close to the company confirmed that a similar product was in the works.

Both companies have been working feverishly to gain a foothold in the social networking space. Yahoo recently replaced Yahoo 360 with Mash. More recently, Google made social networking headlines with the launch of OpenSocial, a platform aimed at breaking down barriers between social networks.