Comments on: Google Friend Connect: What’s the Point?

By: Nepal

Nepal — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:03:51 +0000

I’m waiting for Google Friend Connect to add a real comments section in the join area. Looking at a bunch of peoples faces is nice, but what good is it?

By: pcunix

pcunix — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:07:11 +0000

I added it back in December but am thinking of taking it down. Their “wall” comment system is awful – no paragraph breaks, no formatting features at all. The GFC “profiles” are weak also.

The supposed additional features and gadgets hasn’t happened. I only keep it now because it adds a little color and that’s a pretty silly reason. I’ll likely be taking it down soon.

By: reuben

reuben — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:16:07 +0000

I really see benefits in google friend connect for the small time webmaster or people who just want to add social features to their site but perhaps just don’t have the knowledge or the $’s to buy a script.

Google friend connect is very easy to add to any site, that it requires very basic computer knowledge to setup, which I think is key to the success of the gadget implementation as more and more sites will enable them, which will spiral more viral communication streams between sites, which previously may not have been linked.

A new google friend connect directory has been started at gfcdirectory.com, if you have a google friend connect enabled website then you can submit your site for free to this directory.

Reuben
http://www.gfcdirectory.com

By: simplify3

simplify3 — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:58:00 +0000

I think the genius of Google Friend Connect is its simplicity and ease of installation. Just to have an “add as a friend” feature – that is something that people LIKE to have on their websites! That’s mainly why I like it, as well as the internetworking social aspect of it — you can see the same people on multiple websites. When you break what makes MySpace + Facebook down to the nitty gritty: “What makes them different from a regular informational website?”
It’s “Add friend”. To add friend is not like participating in a forum, or a chat room, or setting up a profile page (which *is* something that MySpace does in a big way) — but it is stating a relationship. “You are my friend”

And giving that capability to millions of blogs and websites for 10 minutes of work? It’s not a bad deal.

Here’s hoping it is embraced :-)

Kenneth Udut
Webmaster of a Google Friend Connect Enabled Site: http://free.naplesplus.us a Naples FL website

By: Chris Lang

Chris Lang — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:37:33 +0000

Now that the pieces of Google’s social network have come together I have learned that the Friend Connect widget is how you find and make friends within the network.

How much more targeted can you get than showing the Google Reader RSS subscribers as friends of the blog the widget resides on?

You can use the widget to send a friend request to the user behind the avatar, then when they friend you back your new friend is added to Gtalk and Gmail chat, their Google shared RSS items are added to your “Friend’s shared items” in Google Reader and in return, yours to theirs.

This is the perfect social network, sharing what we read in real time thru Google Reader and a spam proof network to boot. Take that Digg.

By: Allan

Allan — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:16:32 +0000

That isolated island iframe point is very interesting. I wonder how Google will allow AdSense to access Friend Connect data to serve relevant ads on the “host” website.

By: Michael Chin

Michael Chin — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:07:11 +0000

Mike, I think you’ve nailed it exactly from a web publisher’s point of view (interesting to me that most are taking it from the user perspective). Websites can benefit from some access to the millions of people that GMF aggregate, but as any publisher knows, the things that you need to ‘own’ & ‘control’ are your brand and relationships with your users. This can’t be substituted. But once you have that foundational core these initiatives could be act as value adds.

By: David Mullings

David Mullings — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:16:39 +0000

I am on the fence. Our site has one of the largest collections of Caribbean entertainment videos on the web BUT users cannot rate videos or leave comments.

We are the only Caribbean media partner for Flux, which is great because users have a single set of login info for all Viacom sites (MTV.com, etc.) and partner sites, linking us with elite brands, but when we tried to embed their comment widget, it didn’t work.

This Google initiative would provide those features without building out a new registration system. The increased stickiness from comments increases pageviews and ad revenue.

The problem is the issue you raised – I want the contact info of those people so that I can contact them when we upload new content.

With Flux I can do all that so I would rather fix my Flux issue than sign up with Friend Connect but we will probably test it when we get an invite.

By: Vaibhav

Vaibhav — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:38:33 +0000

Here’s a thought, if something like this allows me to continue my facebook chat (among other things) with my friends as I move from site to site on the Internet, then it would be pretty cool.

By: Ian Hendry

Ian Hendry — Tue, 13 May 2008 07:21:25 +0000

If it makes it easier for users of our business-focused social networking site to use the features of the site with contacts they have already established elsewhere then I am interested.

Of course, there is a world of difference between talking about it and showing it working so we can all really judge the value.

Ian Hendry
WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz

By: unnikuttan

unnikuttan — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:55:29 +0000

that is again one of these social bookmarking tools oh my god…

By: 2.0 Weblogs

2.0 Weblogs — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:04:47 +0000

Good questions. Maybe we could meet over at PF Changs and discuss some more!

iThink that the changes are good – it’s just another option for us to use, another tools in the trade, another feather in my cap.

http://ThunkDifferent.com !

By: Darayush Mistry

Darayush Mistry — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:00:21 +0000

“Why should I, as a webmaster, set aside part of my page for you to have a conversation in? Why should you, as a user, come to my site to talk with your Facebook friends, rather than using Facebook?”

So that your website can increase its stickiness and keep the user engaged for a longer time with a higher likelihood of them clicking on other paid/non-paid content and services on your website. Also the initial gadget or IFRAME container might be isolated, but with better security the interaction of this gadget can be increased to communicate with other parts of the page through signals making the whole experience more interactive.