Taking a Second Look at Google Friend Connect

Originally I added the Members widget but recently see Google Friend Connect has a lot more interesting widgets. Some of these could be very useful to someone who wanted to promote their blog and business.

Social Bar

Let users sign in, view other members, leave comments, and see recent site activity from the top or bottom of your website. I am going to add this one as soon as I find time to figure out how to add it to the Thesis theme. A short trip to the support forum should do it.

Comments

Let users post comments and video links. Posts can apply to a specific page or an entire website.

Ratings and Reviews

Let users rate and review content on your page — books, photos, songs, etc.

Interests Polls

Ask your visitors questions relevant to your site via a poll that adds to their profile. Answers can enhance AdSense and the featured content gadget. This gadget works in concert with the Interests feature.

Recommendation

Let users recommend their favorite pages, surfacing your site’s most popular content.

Featured Content

Display content from your site based on the interests of your site’s visitors. Using Google site search, this gadget will automatically display content that matches the interests expressed by your site’s visitors.

Newsletter

Help members sign up for your newsletter by providing their email address if they haven’t yet specified one.

I like the Newsletter a lot. The way this set of tools can be added as needed is a good way for this to work. Look for some more of these items to arrive here soon. In the meantime please signe up with my Google Connect.

Tagged as: google friend connect, google friendconnect, social marketing, social media marketing tools