Three’s Company Or Three’s A Crowd? Google To Launch “Friend Connect” On Monday

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1. Joe Hunkins
   

   May 9th, 2008 at 10:48 pm

   So, is three a crowd or will the openness wash over all of this and make it so easy to share data that we won’t care what aps we start with?

2. Anindya Sharma
   

   May 9th, 2008 at 10:50 pm

   Just as you can call your friend on any mobile network in the world without any glitches, with the same analogy there must be a way to connect to any one in the any social network. This is the first step towards that.

3. MyMesh.com
   

   May 9th, 2008 at 10:51 pm

   Yahoo/? and AOL/Bebo next?

4. Daniel Brusilovsky
   

   May 9th, 2008 at 10:53 pm

   Interesting…. will have to see what happens!

5. Darren Lee
   

   May 9th, 2008 at 10:56 pm

   Looks like Big Brother wants to own/run everything.

   Makes me wonder if Google ever becomes what it desires to be - the central of organizing all the world’s information PLUS social identities (with this) , it will be too much power for just one company.

   E.g. In the future, if a a stranger wants to find out more about a person (e.g. Mike), they will probably “google” that guy and find out his background details. So, if Big Brother wants to screw with you - instead of putting “high profile blogger”, they can change it to “recent high profile killer”. Will that be a security problem? Too much power and influence?

   We cam make a sci-fi movie out of this

   But then again, it could come true (playing scary background music) ..

6. Joseph O'Connell
   

   May 9th, 2008 at 11:01 pm

   These three announcements represent a huge opportunity for niche networks looking to foster user adoption - by leveraging these powerful export tools instead of asking users to fill out yet another profile, a niche network can now remove a substantial barrier to entry. Seems like this only helps drive traffic *away* from the major networks. Hm, what’s the catch?

7. Friend APIs
   

   May 9th, 2008 at 11:05 pm

   Beginning of the beginning…

8. Charlie
   

   May 9th, 2008 at 11:11 pm

   My understanding is that iGoogle is going to become an OpenSocial container and social network in its own right very soon. That’s why they released an early developer version and I’m sure it’s why they recently promoted it with a bunch of themes from name-brand artists. Google may not have much of a social network now but I woudn’t bet against them fashioning one out of their existing products very soon.

9. 113.com
   

   May 9th, 2008 at 11:16 pm

   Google will just simply need a good name to compete with myspace and facebook, period.

   Orkut or iGoogle or whatever, forget it..

   That said, Google is not about social networking, period. (yes, period).

10. EH
    

    May 9th, 2008 at 11:17 pm

    Joe@1: I hope so, I’ve been waiting for something like this for over a year. Next time I’ll start a business! Nevertheless, this is the next step in a world of profile providers and network providers being separable.

11. snyggast
    

    May 9th, 2008 at 11:17 pm

    instead of a sign up page, it would be cool to give potential users 3 import buttons, facebook, myspace, or yahoo and auto complete their profile.

12. WalledGardens
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 12:03 am

    Communication protocols, and personal data should not be walled in behind proprietary gardens. Ultimately, every website should be a social container, able to run open standard social apps, and securely transit authorized and authenticated, user-controlled, social data. I don’t see this any different than the evolution of blogs, email, or IRC. It’s a damn shame that IM networks except for XMPP/Jabber are still walled gardens in this day and age. Like TCP/IP, HTTP, I think social networking deserves an open, federated, decentralized system, and that ultimately means Facebook’s closed proprietary stuff must die.

    A well designed social networking platform should run and connect with with my friends, whether that data is stored in my blog in FOAF assertions, and rendered from my blog, or hosted in some container somewhere.

    I don’t believe Facebook’s platform is going to be ultimately more open than Google’s, I think Arrington is smoking crack. If Google has any limits in theirs, it’s merely because it’s a beta launch, and they are worried about security. Google always launches early alpha/beta code often and get community input. Also, “Friend Connect” sounds stupid. I bet it’s called something more Googley and reasonable.

13. Photo Jack
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 12:58 am

    Google is getting serious with its social ideas - they would rather develop their own, rather than succumbing to buy Facebook.

14. John Falconer - Web Designer
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 1:36 am

    Unusually for them, Google have missed the boat on this one.

15. Rodney Rumford
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 1:41 am

    The challenge for Google here is who do they bring on board as a partner that has all that valuable profile data? Friendster? Myspace? Hi5? Bebo???

    http://facereviews.com/2008/05.....-launching

    I will be at Google Campfire Monday anxiously awaiting what comes next.

    Rodney Rumford

16. Mike Abundo
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 3:35 am

    Data portability: when it rains, it pours.

17. Alex Hammer
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 4:47 am

    Remember all the talk about walled gardens, and how the sites would never open up. I believe that the old maxim is true that “people overestimate change in the short term, and underestimate it in the long term”. Given that, what starts as a trickle could - eventually - and before some realize it perhaps - turn into a flood. And at some tipping point there will be a big divide (and opportunity disconnect) between those who are on the winning and losing sides (open vs. closed) of that dynamic/proposition.

18. victor
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 5:10 am

    free and open all social graphs ! oSocial is a first.

19. Masseratti
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 8:09 am

    Ok, here is one for google:

    Since Orkut is still in beta and fully functional, just rename that ugly shit to Google Social or something more commercial and launch it as 1.0 with all the hype and fanfare.

    I guarantee you more than 500 million users in the first week leaving myspace and fakebook in the dust.

20. SIGEPJEDI
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 9:04 am

    It will be interesting to see what google has in store. BUT, I dont think I need any more help with my Social Footprint, its getting quite large!

    http://twitter.com/sigepjedi

21. tony dee
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 9:10 am

    How many more social networks do we really need? I’ve been using friendfeed to tie them all together and now a few more are launching. When will the madness end?

22. Ederic
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 9:44 am

    I wonder which camp will Friendster join. Friendster is the most popular social networking site in the Philippines.

23. phenom
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 10:01 am

    Just as you can call your friend on any mobile network in the world without any glitches, with the same analogy there must be a way to connect to any one in the any social network. This is the first step towards that.

24. Tim G
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    menage de google

25. Matt
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 7:01 pm

    pfffft…. all these places are losing it. the data belongs to the users, period. do not let these places get away with this crap. they are just “pretending” to care about data portability but every last one of these companies is laughing in all of your faces of you believe you are getting data portability out of them. what a joke.

    Terms of use… iframes… wtf is so special about that a frikkin iframe?? i can show whatever i want in an iframe… i don’t need google’s “permission”. I think i’m sick of people thinking a fucking iframe is somehow “integrating” some service… “mahalo integrates myspace profiles!” … or “readburner integrates google reader”…. GRRRR!!!! it’s an iframe people, it doesn’t take a fancy degree in computer science to “integrate” something with a stupid iframe!!!!!!!! (Google is a disgrace to data portability with this move. do not praise it, ever. cry foul. piss on google. give them shit for insulting your intelligence… ‘do no evil’ my ass. selfish bastards who are hell bent on locking users in come hell or high water…)

    anyway… all these big companies are missing it as far as i’m concerned. too bad the dataportability-dot-org initiative doesn’t have the sand to issue a press release to the effects of this comment. (of course they’d have to use less flavorful language… hehehe…. but trust me people, Google has not advanced the cause of Data Portability… mysapce and facebook jokingly “support data portability” but only among their “circle of trust” (which incidentally does not include the user for some reason)… it’s the users data and they should be let to do with it whatever they like… NO terms of use. NO iframe bullshit. Just the users data whenever/wherever they want it… period.

    I’m all for a way to export this stuff… just like an OPML file for feeds (truth be told, a lot of profile information can be exported in both vcard and OPML… so we, the users, ought not take any bullshit from these companies.. and don’t let them thwart the REAL data portability movement. (and i’m not talking about the Shadow Government they have sneakily set up right under the very feet of the engineers who wrote all these awesome specs in the first place…. yeah, i’m looking at you again Chris… you’ve done awesome work, truly a freedom fighter for the users… then you let these evil corporations in and they have fucked it all up. I almost feel like the people behind the movement in the first place bent down and done the ol’ ankle grab for Facebook, Google, and MySpace. Wtg crew… TRUE portability FTW… not this ultra privileged circle jerk that the upper crust is hoping we will all accept as “finally, real data portability.”

    Google, Facebook, and MySpace all backing the SAME initiative? All willing to release all your data at your request? pffft… what have you fallen for this time young web surfer… don’t drink the fucking kool-aid, alright.

26. Matt
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 7:08 pm

    oops.. i forgot to throw Microsoft into the ring there…. you honestly think Microsoft and Google are on the same team, and that team’s end goal is to share data back and forth between each other and the social network you may build in the future? lmao… a more ignorant notion has never existed. honestly… did you all of a sudden wake up in Shangri-La? not hardly people… welcome back to Earth.

27. Sunflower
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 9:19 pm

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28. Jeffrey Sharkey
    

    May 10th, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    Another thing Google is releasing on Monday is the list of all 50 winners of the Android Developer Challenge. They had over 1,700 entries, and judging just wrapped up last week.

    One of the winners already announced is Android Scan, an app that collects pricing and reviews for anything with a barcode. Check out the quick 3-minute video in action on real barcodes: http://scan.jsharkey.org/

29. Winston
    

    May 11th, 2008 at 12:14 am

    If they were smart they would do what http://www.shopandsave.com did

    private classifeds messageing.

    http://www.shopandsave.com. tak a look at there forms they are on a rampage to be the best tech company. Im not sure what to think about this but it looks like craigslist.com may be in danger

30. ATOzTOA
    

    May 11th, 2008 at 2:27 am

    Let’s see what is in store from Google. But, what bout privacy issues?

31. Robert
    

    May 11th, 2008 at 12:39 pm

    This will be a next generation Web 2.0 innovation. Visit http://www.leapways.com for more ideas including job and career…

32. Malcolm Bastien
    

    May 11th, 2008 at 5:37 pm

    It was a mess before, and it appears it’s going to be a mess afterwards. Big difference being that users will get in the short run get only marginal utility while there’s a big tug-of-war going on around them.

    I’d say the company who wins gets its program secured by as many of the new startups as it can. For me anyways it’s not going to really provide utility where I already have accounts set up and all right? And if the new players are ignored in favor of the in-crowed it’s just gonna go nowhere.

    Also, I never want myspace holding my data.

33. vikram
    

    May 11th, 2008 at 6:28 pm

    Google: a snapshot for dummies (click below)

    http://neoviky.blogspot.com/20.....thing.html

    and this one is for the relatively smart ones….

    http://neoviky.blogspot.com/20.....again.html

    Vikram

34. Ian Hendry
    

    May 12th, 2008 at 3:46 am

    The thing is I am not sure what useful information Google has to add to anyone’s social graph. Orkut is hardly used and I am quite sure that everyone you have ever received a mail from in GMail is not a social graph you’d want to take to any other site.

    The general move towards data protability is welcome though. We run a sales leads and referral network for business wich is underpinned by social networking methods. That existing Facebook users in business could use our site easily and start gaining benefits quicker by bringing over existing contacts would benefit everyone.

    I’d be keen for us to join with Facebook Connect and also Google Friend Connect for access to its GMail and Adwords users.

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

35. Rakesh
    

    May 12th, 2008 at 4:47 am

    Google is become a Microsoft Clone. Copying technology that others have patented. It could soon be in BIG trouble.

    But then Google, Microsoft are the cowboys of the software world.

    The idea of universal id is not new but it has recently caught attention.

    So like Microsoft copied the mac interface for its windows and thereafter with every thing they created, Google is copying the likes of Facebook and others.

    Interestingly, the idea of having personal data portability and universal id caught the imagination of companies such as Facebook, Google, etc after a relatively obscure company called NetAlter Software published its patent called NetAlter and outlined on its website that it proposes to develop an alternative to the internet or the present web.

    So, wonder what their lawyers are up to!!!

36. Avner Aviad
    

    May 12th, 2008 at 6:52 am

    Google, Yahoo, Microsoft & AOL own hugh social networks - their email services. Google owns the graph of all people that joined their service through invitations, sorted by friendship degree (you invite your best friends or family first). This is a huge asset.

37. FishHammer
    

    May 13th, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    First I need to find some friends