Google has launched a new Labs project called Google Follow Finder. It’s designed to help you expand your Twitter network.
To use Google Follow Finder, you can enter your Twitter account name and see a list of people Google thinks you might be interested in following (our own Twellow has a helpful suggestion feature too). Google’s tool will also let you enter other people’s Twitter names and get suggestions based on that.
"If you see someone you want to follow, just click ‘Follow on Twitter,’ log in, and they’ll be added to your following list in Twitter," explains Associate Product Manager Aaron Wise. "This integration is based on Twitter’s new @anywhere frameworks, which make it easy for any site to add Twitter functionality. We’re using the frameworks to provide dynamic information about Twitter accounts and one-click following."
It’s quite interesting that Google is this into getting you to expand your Twitter network, when you might think they would be more interested in getting you to use Buzz. But since your Twitter network can be integrated into your Buzz account, it’s probably just as well, for the sake of Buzz use.
This is the second Twitter-related announcement to come from Google today – the first being the replay feature in Google’s real-time search, which archives tweets and lets you browse them on a timeline.
On a related note, the @anywhere platform from Twitter is now available for anyone to use. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone talks about this on the company blog.