Google Friend Connect (there is a new widget in town)

I added the Google Friend Connect widget to my blog today as they have begun sending out invites to the program.. Please join on the right hand sidebar if you are interested. Official notification is here.

This certainly represents a new direction for interacting with Google as more of a social network. You can now become an active “member” of this site, which will probably have more implications later on.

Blogs are active discussing the implications of Google Friend Connect, but the real battle is on as Facebook has also rolled out their own program, aptly called Facebook Connect, but is it enough?

I also noticed recently that some sites, like TechCrunch, are using the Facebook Connect system for authenticating blog comments. The interesting thing to note here is that this is not simply adding content to TechCrunch but also sending things back to Facebook.

…Facebook Connect doesn’t let information flow just one way. You can now post notifications of your comments to your Facebook wall whenever contributing here on TechCrunch. After hitting the “Add Comment” button, just select a type of feed item (which Facebook calls a “story”) and your friends on Facebook will have the chance to appreciate your snark and wit.

(source)

So what does this mean for this blog? What does this mean for other blogs?

Well, its a race for early adopters in my opinion because with the presence of MyBlogLog and now Google Friend Connect in my sidebar – would you even want a third? I currently use Disqus which solved the problem I had managing comments via email and comment spam.

As more people add Google Friend Connect to their blogs Google is gaining more real estate on pages, much like they did with the adsense program. What they do with this space remains to be seen.

I think that Google is slowly creating a social network with all the recent features it has been quietly releasing such as your own Google profile page, as explained by Chris Brogan. When signed into Google you can checkout your profile here. We might not think of this as a traditional social network with chat rooms, comments, photo sharing and a news feed, but with recent additions to Gmail and now Google Friend connect I think Google is going to pull all these things together.

The best social network might be one you are already on, but never proactively joined.

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This post was written by:

Eric Friedman - who has written 671 posts on Eric Friedman – Marketing.fm.

Directof of Client Services at Foursquare - formerly the analyst at Union Square Ventures, blogger at www.marketing.fm You should follow me on twitter @EricFriedman

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View Comments to “Google Friend Connect (there is a new widget in town)”

  1. EricFriedman Says:

    I think that is the goal of the widget. What did you have in mind?

    Certainly interesting to see how this canwill affect nonprofits.

  2. EricFriedman Says:

    I think that is the goal of the widget. What did you have in mind?

    Certainly interesting to see how this canwill affect nonprofits.

  3. Dave Says:

    Hey there Eric,

    Great post. We've written a couple more thoughts about Friend Connect (with re: to Nonprofit organization outreach) over at CodeKindness, http://codekindness.org/blog/2008/12/04/google-...

    but I wonder if maybe we could dream up some kind of new, early-adopter social / gathering experiment that employs the network? As you, we're really curious to find out what kind of new uses it could bring to Web.

    Cheers,
    –Dave / CK

  4. Dave Says:

    Hey there Eric,

    Great post. We've written a couple more thoughts about Friend Connect (with re: to Nonprofit organization outreach) over at CodeKindness, http://codekindness.org/blog/2008/12/04/google-...

    but I wonder if maybe we could dream up some kind of new, early-adopter social / gathering experiment that employs the network? As you, we're really curious to find out what kind of new uses it could bring to Web.

    Cheers,
    –Dave / CK

  5. EricFriedman Says:

    I think that is the goal of the widget. What did you have in mind?

    Certainly interesting to see how this canwill affect nonprofits.

  6. Dave Says:

    Hey there Eric,

    Great post. We've written a couple more thoughts about Friend Connect (with re: to Nonprofit organization outreach) over at CodeKindness, http://codekindness.org/blog/2008/12/04/google-...

    but I wonder if maybe we could dream up some kind of new, early-adopter social / gathering experiment that employs the network? As you, we're really curious to find out what kind of new uses it could bring to Web.

    Cheers,
    –Dave / CK

  7. EricFriedman Says:

    It is. Check the right hand side.

  8. EricFriedman Says:

    It is. Check the right hand side.

  9. noid Says:

    why isnt it on your site yet?!

  10. noid Says:

    why isnt it on your site yet?!

  11. EricFriedman Says:

    It is. Check the right hand side.

  12. noid Says:

    why isnt it on your site yet?!

  13. Valentin Perez Says:

    nice article! nice site. you're in my rss feed now ;-)
    keep it up

  14. Blog de Salud Says:

    nice article! nice site. you're in my rss feed now ;-)
    keep it up

  15. EricFriedman Says:

    Thanks for stopping by

  16. EricFriedman Says:

    Thanks for stopping by

  17. Blog de Salud Says:

    nice article! nice site. you're in my rss feed now ;-)
    keep it up

  18. EricFriedman Says:

    Thanks for stopping by

  19. William A Iuchs Says:

    nice article! nice site. you're in my rss feed now ;-)
    keep it up

  20. Jean J Abts Says:

    you are on my rss reader now

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