This week was very thrilling for enthusiasts of the network-social websites as two important events took place. Both Facebook and Google launched similar services that aim to merge users’ activity on the social websites and outside them into an integrated experience.

Facebook Connect’s main feature is that once you sign into your Facebook account, you will be automatically signed in when you access any other site that has the Facebook Connect service implemented. The purpose of the service is an eased and unified user experience on the web. The sites outside Facebook will gather your ID from your Facebook profile so it will be easier to post comments on blogs, write and share reviews on websites like CNET. The concept works the other way round too, as your activity on those websites is recorded and displayed on your profile. Your friends will be reported with your new activity if you want to.

At the moment, Facebook Connect is implemented on sites like CNET, CBS, CNN, CitySearch and Discovery Channel. More than 100 websites and even more blogs are expected to sign up with the service in the following weeks.

Coincidence or not, Google’s own similar service was launched on the same day. The Friend Connect uses the same principle to conglomerate users’ activity on the web, but Google representatives state that the implementation of their service is easier, as only a few lines of code are needed.

On a Friend Connect-enabled website, users will be able to log in with their Google IDs, rather than creating and remembering user names and passwords for each site they visit. Furthermore, you can also use your Yahoo!, AOL or OpenID information because Google is part of the OpenSocial initiative. In addition, you can insert gadgets on your profile, as well as personalize it, eventually making Friend Connect a social network with as many users as the specialized sites, like MySpace and Facebook.

Even though it’s too early to name the winner, it is very clear that, along the usability these services offer, both Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect will become gold mines for the advertising agencies.