iGoogle Going Social

Google has launched a new developer sandbox that reveals some really interesting goodies. That is to say it is now a given that social networking is coming to iGoogle very soon. For those who don't already use iGoogle, it is a landing page for your web browser. It is very customizable with widgets and rss feeds and all in all very useful.

After joining this developer sandbox for iGoogle, it is very clear that Google wants to make this tool a hub for social networking. And why wouldn't they. iGoogle already boasts of their 10 million plus users, many of which are using a hodgepodge of social networking tools. It won't be hard for Google to poach at least a few FaceBook and MySpace users, and attract many new social networkers.

You'll also be seeing many developers flock to this new service, as creating new widgets is drop dead simple and leverages Google's previously announced OpenSocial API. Building a widget is as simple as creating an XML file with some javascript thrown in.

What Google intends to do with their other social networking service, Orkut, is unknown at this time. Presumably we'll see a merging of Orkut into iGoogle, while keeping the Orkut branding for its current user base (most of whom are in Brazil and India). It also wouldn't be a stretch to see the integration of Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, etc. into iGoogle based on the strengths of the OpenSocial API. Imagine accessing all these service through a single sign on, with unified messaging and cross service tools.

Though the sandbox is very rough around the edges at this time, the promise of this new platform is immediately evident. Time will tell if it will be a winner, but Google is on the right path.

Links:
http://www.google.com/ig
http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2008/04/by-saurabh-mathur-igoogl...
http://sites.google.com/a/opensocial.org/opensocial/Home
http://www.orkut.com