Google launches Friend Connect preview

Google has launched a preview version of Friend Connect which allows non-technical website owners to add a range of social networking features..

Mussie Shore, a product manager at Google, wrote on the company's official blog: "There are a number of great social networking sites out there that let you stay connected, but the rest of the web typically hasn't been social. Yet."

Website owners can use free code segments to add a range of interactive features and applications which visitors can access through AOL, Google, OpenID or Yahoo log-ins.

Google hopes that the new service will connect sites and users from around the world with similar interests by adding web 2.0 functionality to previously static web pages.

"You will be able to see, invite and interact with new friends or, using secure authorisation APIs, existing friends from social sites on the web like Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, LinkedIn, Orkut, Plaxo and others," wrote Shore.

Friend Connect will initially be limited to a handful of applicants while Google gathers feedback from site owners, developers and users to refine the service and expand the gallery of applications.