New York — Google and Facebook on Thursday independently announced the general availability of their rival technology platforms that is designed to infuse websites with trendy social-networking features widely across the web.
The Palo Alto, Calif., start-up Facebook Inc. Thursday announced the general availability of its long awaited “Facebook Connect” service for the public, in an attempt towards linking its social network with entertainment, media and other Web sites as the Internet Company seeks new ways to accelerate its growth.
“A Facebook Connect service that was under testing for months with selected partners is now available for anyone interested in converting their static websites into interactive communities of users.”
The service promoted earlier this week allows Web sites to let Facebook users log into their sites with Facebook accounts, eliminating the need for users to establish multiple log-ins and profiles for multiple sites. Consumers can then share their personal information they store on Facebook, such as updates about their activities, with other sites for a more personalized experience.
In a similar announcement, Internet colossus Google chose the same day to unveil a beta, or test, version of its “Friend Connect” software aimed at “any webmaster looking to add a dash of social to his or her site.”
In the real world, this means making it possible for people to use their previously created Google and Facebook accounts to sign in to other Web sites that accept them. In such a way, people do not have to create separate account for every Web site that requires one, reducing the number of log-in details they need to remember.
MySpace’s Data Availability Initiative has a similar mission.
Facebook’s Connect platform has been in testing phase for months. It is one of several that are trying to make it easier for people to share personal data across a variety of sites.
Facebook executives claim that their Connect service is intended at reaching new users and giving the company’s existing 130 million active members more to see and share.
While the service is free to Web sites and users, Facebook spokesman David Swain noted that more content-sharing between Facebook and other online services “creates more opportunities for our advertising products and others.”
Numerous sites, such as local business search service Citysearch, already have implemented the service. Facebook says it expects that more than 100 sites — ranging from CNN.com to university alumni Web sites — will add the service in coming weeks.
Online communities and user-contributed content are major aspects of the evolution of life on the Internet and the superstar California companies are evidently jockeying to be the preferred platform for websites.
These programs goal is to enable people port elsewhere content they have entered into Google, Facebook and MySpace, like profile information, photos, notes, list of contacts, comments, status updates and the like.
“Our users come to our sites to consume and engage with content around the topics they care about most,” said Michael Marquez, executive vice president of strategy and corporate development at CBS Interactive.
“We build active communities around this content, and Facebook Connect makes it easy for our users to share their opinions, ideas and advice with their entire social network.”
“We launched Facebook Platform in 2007 to enable hundreds of thousands of developers to create meaningful social experiences for users on Facebook.com,” said Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
“With today’s launch of Facebook Connect, we are broadening that power to millions of entrepreneurs and developers, transforming the Web into a more social place where Facebook’s users can engage in trusted social experiences with their friends.”
In its announcement, Google said Friend Connect is now available to any Web site publisher and that the social features available can be added by copying and pasting snippets of code, so advanced technical knowledge isn’t necessary.
To access Friend Connect features on a Web site, people can log in using not only their account information from Google but also from Yahoo, AOL and the industry standard OpenID, Google said.
“Friend Connect’s goal is to facilitate an open social Web,” Google product manager Mussie Shore wrote in a blog posting.
In the meantime, Facebook urged its users to contact their favorite Web sites and encourage them to implement Facebook Connect, which is already running on places like Citysearch, CNN’s The Forum and CBS’ The Insider.
The Facebook platform program is available to developers at http://developers.facebook.com/connect.php.