Google has announced yet another integratable service, called Friend Connect. It is a service that allows you as a web site owner to add social features to your website. People can sign in with a Google account (or AOL, Yahoo..), and post comments, post pictures etc. There is an example site of a musician, who is having her fans comment directly on her page. People could publish pictures taken in concerts etc. on the site. From the point of view of an educational institution, the school could have students more present on their web pages (Intranet or Internet) by commenting on various things. I would like to be more involved with the menu of our cafeteria, for instance!!! OR comment on some decisions posted on our web pages..

Watch the introduction video here if you find the idea interesting. It does not seem to work on Blogs or other “half ready” services, which of course may already contain the social features.
But I am wondering, whether this linking your information, your pictures, your connections from site to site to site is going too far, and whether it is a bit oppressive?

www.songfacts.com is a nice site offering information about many popular songs. There is information about the origins and backgrounds of the songs, as well as interpretation about the meaning of the lyrics and so on – depending on the song. And there are discussions about the songs by the users, of course. I see some educational use for this: students are often interested about what the lyrics actually mean. These meanings are often discussed in music classrooms.