Facebook and Google launch data portability

Google and Facebook have, coincidentally, announced the availability of their respective data portability offerings.

Google Friend Connect and Facebook Connect have been designed to extend social-networking capabilities broadly across the web.

In the real world, this means making it possible for people to use their previously created Google and Facebook accounts to sign in to other websites that accept them. That way, people don't have to create an account for every website that requires one, reducing the number of log-in details they need to remember.

MySpace's Data Availability Initiative has a similar mission.

These programs also aim to let people port elsewhere content they have entered into Google, Facebook and MySpace, like profile information, photos, notes, list of contacts, comments, status updates and the like.

Google said Friend Connect was now available to any website publisher and that the social features available could be added by copying and pasting snippets of code, so advanced technical knowledge isn't necessary.

To access Friend Connect features on a website, people can log in using not only their account information from Google but also from Yahoo, AOL and the industry standard OpenID, Google said.

Meanwhile, Facebook urged its users to contact their favorite websites and encourage them to implement Facebook Connect, which is already running on places like Citysearch, CNN's The Forum and CBS' The Insider.

"Obviously our launch partners don't cover all the websites you use on a daily basis, so if you want to see this list grow, get in touch with your favorite websites, developers, and services, and tell them you want to connect. With your help, we can all share more information across the web," blogged Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Still, the grand vision of widespread and seamless data portability is far from complete, as these and other initiatives are fairly recent, and important technology and privacy issues remain unsolved.

For example, days after the initial announcements of their data portability programs in May, Google and Facebook promptly locked horns and have been unable to work out their differences. Facebook blocked Google's Friend Connect service from accessing Facebook members' data, saying the Google program violates its terms of services because it redistributes Facebook user information to developers without users' knowledge.