Google Friend Connect - Get Social, Get Visitors

Initially there used to be some considerable barriers when websites tried to embed social networking features. Google Friend Connect has arrived to change the whole scenario. With Google Friend Connect, any site can offer “interactive” feel to its visitors. What makes this new Google baby all the more attractive is no programming skill is required to integrate it to websites. Webmasters can add social features on the website even without writing any code.

Google has recently announced the beta release of Google Friend Connect. With the help of this Google product, the websites can now have features like user registration, invitation, members gallery, message posting, user reviews etc. They can also have third party applications built by OpenSocial developer community. When visitors are there on a site using Google Friend Connect, they will be able to see, invite and interact with their existing friends in Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Talk, hi5, Orkut, Plaxo and other social networking platforms.

So let me summarize the key reasons why a website owner like you might be interested to integrate Google Friend Connect to your website:

• You don’t need to write a single line of code. All you need to do is to copy and paste code snippets into your website, sit back and relax. Google Friend Connect will do the rest for you. You do not need to depend on the whims of any programming a team or other social networks. The calculation is simple - Less spending, more profit.


• You will be able to make your site more interactive with social networking features. In this era of web 2.0 and 3.0 revolution, online visitors prefer sites having interactive modules. And it’s a proven fact: The more you can engage visitors to your website, the more chance is that they will keep coming back to your site. Retaining repeat visitors is the key to online success.


• When connected with friends through your site, if a visitor finds anything interesting he/she can refer it to friends instantly. And the process ultimately helps you to increase traffic to your site. If you sell any product or service through your website, more traffic means more potential customers and you get a wonderful opportunity to convert them to your actual customers.

Google Friend Connect is extremely easy to install and offers a very user-friendly interface. The process of inviting friends or to broadcast visitor’s activity is very simple. It is also compatible with several OpenSocial gadgets which makes it all the more interesting.

Currently Google Friend Connect is in “Preview Release” form and is available only to limited number of site owners. You can sign up for it to be selected as a partner.

So, website owners, get ready, it’s time to get social.