Making Friends With Google

Keeping with the Google focus, the company recently introduced a new suite of social features called Google Friend Connect.

GFC lets you add social networking features to your site without major effort. Just copy and paste the code they provide, do a bit of customization (as desired), and you’re off and running. The cut/paste/play features are made possible through another Google program called OpenSocial, which is trying to define a common format for social applications across multiple websites.

One key benefit is that the GFC features piggyback on web visitors’ existing social networks/apps like Facebook…instantly boosting your site’s community connections. While a Google representative describes it as “salt shaker full of social that you can sprinkle on your sites to add social capabilities,” one could argue that the whole premise behind successful social networking is a bit more involved. For instance, does your brand have deep enough meaning to inspire social networking? That may be the place to start. But….the tools may be attractive to smaller sites looking to go social. Many details have yet to be announced by Google…so stay tuned.