Google's FriendConnect is generating a lot of press for a site that doesn't exist. Or at least, that's the case now on Monday afternoon, when google.com/friendconnect returns a 404 error for anyone attempting to see Goog's latest goods.
That hasn't stopped top tech bloggers from evaluating it as much as they can. As most have observed, FriendConnect comes on the heels of open social tools unleashed by Facebook and MySpace, as wells as Google's own Social Graph API.
CNET provides this description of the service:
"Friend Connect-compliant sites will be able to view, invite, and interact with newfound friends, or with existing friends, from established social-networking sites, including Facebook, Google Talk, Hi5, Orkut, and Plaxo via secure authorization application-programming interfaces."
Mashable also has a great write-up, calling FriendConnect's release "the end of the fragmentation era." They also provide this handy graphic to explain its place between personal sites and existing social services:
Image via Mashable
I am wary of what seems to be another big step toward a data monopoly, but the incorporation of tools like OpenID, oAuth and OpenSocial should allow for a more open, publicly expandable platform.
