Google Friend Connect Doesnt Really Add Any Value To Sites

Lately I have been seeing more and more blogs/sites as Google Friend Connect. The key example is Mashable, they have added Google Friend Connect to the top section of their sidebar. This means Google Friend Connect is higher than their 125 ad slots, I find this stupid. Why does Mashable put such a high position on Google Friend Connect when they already have their own social software built in, and they are losing a great deal of money on 125 ad revenues, because they are so low in the sidebar. Is it just me or am I missing something about Google Friend Connect.

I understand the basic concept of Google Friend Connect, in which sites can see the fan space around their sites, but currently there is very limited real added value to the sites themselves. This seems to just be another way Google can get more space on websites, which adds straight into Open Social and will allow Google to have another advertising option in the future.

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3 Comments

  1. SocialMind says:
    January 11, 2009 at 8:54 pm

    This is a beta service that was released perhaps, `too soon` for your average user to see a massive benefit (although, adding social interactions to a previously static `read-only` site will definitely increase viewer retention anyways)

    But. This is a BETA service. Once more developers get the inspiration to start using what`s available through friend connect and OpenSocial, this could be one of the most important developments of 2009.

  2. Steven Finch says:
    January 12, 2009 at 9:58 am
    @SocialMind I totally understand that Google Friend Connect is going to grow in the future, of course. However you are saying it is in Beta, well so is Gmail and that hasnt changed dramatically since launch. Im sure it will develop over time and we will see a lot come out of OpenSocial in the next year or so, but I just dont think it is really going to do much (similar to mybloglog).
  3. Paul says:
    January 15, 2009 at 10:39 pm

    I think its too soon to tell with GFC. Many people fail to see the potential in the API. Eternal-Revolution.com allows users to either sign into the site (wordpress powered) or use their twitter/aol/gmail/yahoo/google account to get one-click access to the site, then be able to comment on each post and/or rate t-shirt designs… and that’s out-of-the-box beta, with no new 3rd party widgets just yet.

    (see the how-to for auto-creating unique walls for your posts: http://eternal-revolution.com/index.php/109/blog/how-to-replace-wordpress-comments-with-google-friend-connect-wall/)

    What next? twitter-esque profile pages with activity and post streams seems simple enough…

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Author: Steven Finch

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Founder and Editor of Crenk. Im CEO of Insomnia Ltd which owns and operates RouteNote (Digital Music Distributor), Adphilia (Site Representation Firm) and Black and White Music (Music Recording Studio).