Google Releases Social Graph API

Google has announced the release of its Social Graph API to developers. The Social Graph API is a tool designed to help users find and add their social connections each time they sign on to a new network. It searches for data on your connections across the internet.

The API should make it easier for developers of new social networks and other social applications to add connectivity functionality to their sites and applications. this announcement comes right on the heels of the search giant joining the data portability movement via DataPortability.org. Internet pundits suspect the API has actually been in development for some time, and the timing was just right to release it now.

The API claims to use only the data that is readily available tot he public to determine how people online are connected. It is based on the infamous Google search algorithm that brings so much success to their search results. The data used by the API will only be found on sites that are indexed on Google - a site traveling under the Google radar would not be included in the search.

The more instances of connection the Social Graph API finds between two people, the closer the connection it assumes they have. If you have someone on your FaceBook top friends, and you also have them in your MySpace friend list and in your contacts on a site like Pownce or Twitter, the API will think you are good friends and match you accordingly on API enabled sites.

The main use of the API lies in the data portability movement. By letting you see your online network and how it is woven, you have more control over how you add to it, and how the data is displayed in different areas of the web. It helps prevent issues of too much exposure (you might not want the boss in your Pownce list to see the tweets you send on a Friday night in Twitter, for example), and correct problems like cases of not enough exposure.

The Social Graph API also has me wondering if it is the first step in a future social search engine powered by Google. In a recent interview, Google rep Marissa Meyer says she sees social search based on Gmail contacts as the wave of the future. Using your Gmail contacts as a base, your search results could be influenced by what your contacts see as important. Combined with the Social Graph API, this would bring Google even further into your online life.