To me it appears Google has increased their strategy of getting users to log into the “internet” and stay logged in. OpenID and OpenSocial as well as Google Friend Connect are all steps in this direction. I’m okay with idea, too, as long as the “anoymous” internet doesn’t disappear completely.

A more professional internet means more money for professionals

With any of these services (and Facebook Connect too), the idea is to get people to have a common identity that they use across the internet. This would make conversations more meaningful. People who are tied into their main account using “real information” are much less likely to flame than others. It means transactions on websites becomes more trusted and e-commerce can flourish even better.

If most people start using consistent identities, the ‘Net will finally change from the Wild West it currently is to something much more respectable. It’s time. Billons of dollars of business are done daily on the internet. The web is where people come for news and entertainment. Making moves towards professionalizing the entire experience have to be applauded.

Mass adoption is possible since we’re dealing with Google products

I’ve placed Google Friend Connect on one website to use for comments, and people seem to be joining at a relatively rapid rate. Since Google is the company behind the offering, it helps leverage their brand to build the social features on your own website.

Plus, since Google is the biggest web company, access to their huge database is a must. People can join any website now with a simple click of their mouse. This means they will. Plus, they can invite friends from their contact lists, which unleashes the power of social networking as a marketing tool.

SEOs have no choice but to embrace the new technology

SEOs always have to evolve. There’s no way that an SEO, or even someone who has built their online success around SEO, can ignore new technology or trends. Users are logging into accounts. They are promoting and demoting. They love to add friends. These features have now made their way from the “Web 2.0″ niche to the mainstream.

It seems obvious that Google will add more “crowd-sourcing” information to their algo. Consider the main weakness of their current backlinks-based algo: weak websites with tons of backlinks get tons of visitors. Now if the visitors who land there consider the site to be spam, they can “demote it.” Google would be crazy to ignore such information.

Now Google can have the best of both worlds. They can still track backlinks and see which website is most popular that way. But they can also integrate information from free worldwide raters, i.e. the end users. Who better to decide the relative merits of a website than the very people using it?

I think the new offerings from Google are worth exploring for anyone who has a content based websites and isn’t running their own social networking features. Why not let Google developers build the tools and the brand and you can leverage their expertise to help make your website a complete user experience? It should pay off in the long run.