In an interview with Xconomy, Mussie Shore, one of the developers behind Google Friend Connect, says that “8 million communities have formed with Friend Connect”. What do those communities consist of? The same widget which shows up in the sidebar of this site. The number is massive considering that Facebook Connect is now on “tens of thousands” of websites. I’ve written about the service extensively since it first launched and as of now, it’s being hailed as a great success.

It’s an amazing number: 8 million communities. However what does that mean and how does that compare to the thousands of communities powered by Facebook Connect? For the most part, it simply means that Friend Connect communities are much smaller than their Facebook counterparts. That also means that there’s a greater likelihood that the communities could simply shift to other platforms, such as Facebook.

Why would a community with 50 members have any real concern about shifting to a new platform that provides more functionality or simply looks be