News.com is reporting that Google has just revealed a preview of its new “Friend Connect,” a user-friendly method of adding social features to web sites without needing extensive programming knowledge. Friend Connect is obviously an attempt to jump on the social networking Web 2.0 bandwagon, but Google is approaching it from a different point of view.
Instead of launching just another social networking web site like MySpace or Facebook, Google has created a series of social “plug-ins” that can be added to any web site without needing programming or technical knowledge. This in itself is a pretty clever innovation, and could conceivably take off big, assuming that it is user-friendly enough, and that Google markets the new Friend Connect service in the right way.
Imagine having MySpace or Facebook connectivity available on a huge variety of web sites, from Amazon.com to flyfishingweekly.com (or whatever you are into). That is exactly what Google is attempting with the Friend Connect service. This way, you don’t need a centralized social networking site and all — you can simply have your Facebook-type social interface and connections anywhere you go online.
Users of the service will be able to interact with and view the activities of all their friends on existing sites, including Facebook, Google Talk, Orkut, Plaxo and others. The Friend Connect interface will use a secure authorization process to increase security, and keep your social network safe while surfing around various sites online.
For the time being, only a few sites are including the Friend Connect interface. Google is seeking feedback from webmasters and users about the functionality of the service before the official launch takes place– scheduled for later this year.
In effect, the Friend Connect interface is a type of widget that is easily included on any web page. Google expects the interfaces to be popular among a wide variety of web sites because of their ability to bring in increased Web traffic, and enhance surfers experience on a particular site. For example, if you’re reading a series of articles on the wired.com and decide to check in with your friends on Facebook, you don’t have to open a new web page at all — you can simply use the Friend Connect interface right on the page you are reading.
The beauty of the service is that your social connections and applications will all be immediately synced up with your MySpace or Facebook page. Assuming that the Friend Connect application is stable, it could prove a great success, and will likely be adopted by millions of web sites around the world. We will have to wait for the official launch of Friend Connect later this year to see how it plays out, and if the service can live up to the hype.
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