Google unveils preview release of Friend Connect

Internet Business News, May 13, 2008

INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2008 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

A preview release of Google Friend Connect, a service helping website owners to increase traffic by enabling any website to provide social features easily for visitors, is being unveiled by Internet search engine company Google Inc (Nasdaq:GOOG).

Google said the service enables any website owner to add code to their site and obtain and run social features immediately, without the need for programming. They can choose from built-in functionality such as invitations, user registration, message posting, members gallery and reviews, along with third party applications built by the OpenSocial developer community.

According to Google, visitors to sites using Friend Connect will be able to use secure authorisation APIs to see, invite and interact with new friends or with existing friends from social sites such as Facebook, Google Talk, orkut, Plaxo and hi5.

Friend Connect is expected to drive traffic; increase engagement, with access to friends and OpenSocial applications providing more interesting content and richer social experiences; and reduce work, with sites able to add social components without becoming a social network or hiring a programmer.

The company confirmed Friend Connect is in a preview release with all site owners interested in signing up for the wait list able to visit, with more sites to be turned on in future weeks and more social applications to be added. More information is available at http://www.google.com/friendconnect.

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