For once, Google looked to be a half-step (or more) behind. Yahoo’s testing a “social” new homepage, Microsoft’s rolling out a “social” Windows Live update, and from the search giant, nada on this front. Except, it seems, for Friend Connect, which just might launch soon.
Friend Connect promises to do much more than what its name suggests, allowing website owners to add all sorts of social functions like invitations, members’ galleries, and message postings. A preview release has been up for discussion since May of this year.
Only, again, progress appears to be taking place. Amit Agarwal writes, “Google earlier opened Friend Connect for a limited number of users . . . but I suspect that the public launch of Friend Connect may happen very soon. That’s because Google today released a new video that gives a short introduction to Friend Connect and unlike previous videos, this one is more inclined towards marketing the service to the non-developer crowd.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N94s7ix0JPoIndeed, the video speaks straight to site owners, emphasizes that no programming skills are needed, and with an easy-to-follow “here’s where they’ll click” walkthrough, shows how Friend Connect is supposed to appeal to users. Another interesting note: the video’s narrator, product marketing manager Mendel Chuang, uses the present tense, saying “users can” do things instead of “users will.”
UPDATE: It turns out a Friend Connect support site has surfaced, too. Help articles are available for both site owners and site visitors, and most of them deal with getting set up and properly oriented. Credit again goes to Amit Agarwal for the catch.
Keep an eye out for Friend Connect, then, and knowing Google, it may well have some other stuff up its product development sleeves, too.
