Facebook has changed the way social networking online allows people to interact and this web 2.0 standard has become a source of meeting new people, sourcing prospects for business and discussing any topic with like-minded people.  Google has been supporting the web 2.0 applications range for some time with its tools.

Google Friend Connect brings the community to your web site by giving a snippet of code that you simply add to your web page. The application shows photos of current people using the API and allows new users to sign up for Google ids. No technical know-how is needed; simply copy and paste the code to the web page.

Take a look at the introductory video:

Creating reviews of movies and other products is quite popular. Adding a social network to your web site has never been easier.

The API allows you to gain control over the level of social interaction so only you decide how freely available you and your data will be to the network.  This is great as you can add providers like Twitter to the account and keep track of your social online activities. Your social events can be discussions or anything just like on facebook.  The API allows you to connect with registered and unregistered users and engage all in your activities.

If you have a set of skills such as programming then the API will be of further use to you. Using JavaScript direct API, the tools allows the creation of new add-ons for the API for you to integrate into your site.  The OpenSocial development community is rife with programmers submitting all kinds of extras.

External access also is possible from other very popular social communities such as MySpace and Yahoo Groups.

To demonstrate how easy it to integrate, here’s how I added it to my blogger account, it took just about a minute!

1.    Log into blogger, go to ‘edit posts’ on the blog.
2.    Click on Layout, the Page Elements page is where you add code snippets
3.    Click the ‘Add a Gadget’ link
4.    Select Followers (usually at the top of the list), then name and save it. It will look like this:

All that’s left to do is let your friends or if for business, prospects, know about your blog and ask them to follow you - by clicking the button. This is a great way to add a social network to your discussion or if it’s for business, a great way to establish a strong mailing list.

My recommendation is to place it at the top of your blog or Home Page if possible, make it as easy to access as possible.  Now, you can connect with people like on facebook, and also build a social network that plugs into your site.

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