In a rather controversial act, Google has changed its contacts-export API, so that organizations that do not enable a similar action for their user's contacts (i.e and mainly - Facebook), will not be able to use the API for the retrieval of the complete user's contacts from Gmail. Seems like Google is really intimidated from the evolving power of the social graph. Can't really blame them, can you ? and it does seem Facebook isn't fair. The inability to leave with your contacts is a serious lock-in design. Maybe myspace and their like should start legal anti-trust-like actions ?
[update, 9/11/2010: as could have been expected, Facebook has been reported to use Google's regular User Interface to enable a less convenient but still very simple download-upload process of the gmail contacts into facebook. Unlike the writer of the report, I do not think Google will continue to address this issue. I also believe that the slight inconvenience was all Google wanted to achieve, so that Facebook's users will take the minute to think about the fact that they do not know how to extract their contacts from facebook... will it work ? time will tell... and in the meantime, Facebook should work harder, to try and automate the entire process...
or maybe just do the right thing, and add an export-your-contacts button, like a really good sport ?]
[update, 15/11/2010: Techcrunch reports a workaround enabling mass export of your contacts from facebook (So, now there is a way to export your contacts from Facebook to a file. But it is a shame that one can do it only with the help of a 3rd side - Yahoo... ]
[update, 21/11/2010: Now it seems Gmail was removed from Facebook's third-party Email providers, and when one wishes to seek friends, he can no longer use his Gmail contacts at all, in a direct manner. It might be the best solution, as it reflects the current state of affairs - one has to upload a file, not directly access his gmail account. And yet, one also has to wonder whether people at Facebook shouldn't rethink the direction they have chosen]
[update, 6/7/21011: Facebook appears to be so scared by Google+, it is now blocking a Friends-data-export Chrome extension]
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[update, 9/11/2010: as could have been expected, Facebook has been reported to use Google's regular User Interface to enable a less convenient but still very simple download-upload process of the gmail contacts into facebook. Unlike the writer of the report, I do not think Google will continue to address this issue. I also believe that the slight inconvenience was all Google wanted to achieve, so that Facebook's users will take the minute to think about the fact that they do not know how to extract their contacts from facebook... will it work ? time will tell... and in the meantime, Facebook should work harder, to try and automate the entire process...
or maybe just do the right thing, and add an export-your-contacts button, like a really good sport ?]
[update, 15/11/2010: Techcrunch reports a workaround enabling mass export of your contacts from facebook (So, now there is a way to export your contacts from Facebook to a file. But it is a shame that one can do it only with the help of a 3rd side - Yahoo... ]
[update, 21/11/2010: Now it seems Gmail was removed from Facebook's third-party Email providers, and when one wishes to seek friends, he can no longer use his Gmail contacts at all, in a direct manner. It might be the best solution, as it reflects the current state of affairs - one has to upload a file, not directly access his gmail account. And yet, one also has to wonder whether people at Facebook shouldn't rethink the direction they have chosen]
[update, 6/7/21011: Facebook appears to be so scared by Google+, it is now blocking a Friends-data-export Chrome extension]
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