Google is releasing Friend Connect, a service designed to add social networking capabilities to any site that wants to do so. Webmasters can easily activate the service by copying a small amount of code on their Web pages.

The service was to be released Monday, but only a small number of sites will have access to the code during the testing period.

Friend Connect enables sites to let users log in and identify themselves in an easy way. Existing user names from Google partners such as AOL or Yahoo can be used to connect to the sites running the Friend Connect service.

Once connected, the users can import personal information such as a profile picture or a list of friends. If one tries to log in with a username that is not from a Google partner, he or she will be prompted to make a Google account.

With Friend Connect, Google tries to take profit of the growing popularity the social sites are starting to have and of the fact that more and more people are starting to own accounts on more than one site, making them wish for a service where contact information can be exported.

On the other hand, a growing number of web page owners are trying to take advantage of this popularity and create a loyal community on their web pages by adding social capabilities.

Google’s Friend Connect comes to satisfy both communities, while luring people to spend more time online, where Google’s ads can be seen.