Befriending new websites

The Internet just got a whole lot friendlier. On Monday, Google announced the launch of Friend Connect, a set of easy-to-use tools that will allow any website owner to import features typically associated with sites such as Facebook and MySpace. It has the potential to quickly transform personal and business interactions over the Internet."It takes us closer to the Internet as your network, rather than where we have been, which is more of a 'closed garden' mentality," says Dawn DeBruyn, CEO and cofounder of WeMeUs.com, a social-network site.

Friend Connect allows others to join a site, tell friends about it, leave comments, and add photos. But the biggest revolution is that it allows one to instantly import preexisting social networks onto the site. "It may in fact mean a reduction in the number of sites we have to register on to comment and share with our friends," says Ms. DeBruyn.