Unless you've been under a rock you know that Google recently opened up their Friend Connect service to the world. Friend Connect allows site builders to add a number of social features via widgets that Google calls gadgets. There are three main widgets currently available whose features I've summarized below.

1. Members (pictured at right below) gives people the opportunity to join your site and displays pictures of users which link to the person's Google profile. This widget also allows people to "invite" other people to the site via email and a number of social bookmarking services.
2. Wall adds comment functionality with the ability to link to Yo
3. Review/Rate (pictured at left below) allows people to add star ratings along with comments to the site.

Friend Connect and Drupal

Friend Connect can easily be implemented on a Drupal site. All you have to do is cut and past ethe code provided by Google in order to add the functionality. See the video embedded below for a tutorial that shows me implementing FriendConnect on a WordPress site.

I don't think that the rating or wall features will be too helpful to Drupal site builders as that functionality is readily available via modules like Fivestar and Guestbook. If you're using Drupal as more of a blog without turning on the core sign-up and profile features then the members widget could be useful in building a soft community and adding to the viral nature of the site. I'm trying it out on the front page here.

Friend Connect Tutorial

Friend Connect Images
Ratings Widget	Members Widget

Over the last couple of years I've come to rely on free tools from Google to assist with functionality on my Drupal powered websites. At first I just used Google's site search tool. Since then it seems that every couple of months Google has either released (or acquired) tools that can enhance your Drupal site.

Here is a list of the Google tools that I've used in conjunction with my various Drupal-powered websites.