This guest post was written by Barry Welch, a social app developer and a speaker at the Google Friend Connect launch who likes to create apps that foster visitor interaction, increase website traffic, and/or generate revenue for site owners. Barry relies on Google App Engine to provide speed and scale for his web apps. - Ed.

If you're seeking to get your community more engaged, you'll want to give them more ways to connect with one another and contribute to your site. In addition to the other gadgets available through Google Friend Connect, there's now the Get Answers gadget. Adding the Get Answers gadget to your site will encourage visitors to ask questions of the community and answer questions posed by others, creating a clear invitation to interact.

For visitors looking to connect and contribute to your community, the Get Answers gadget lets site members
* Ask questions, submit answers, and vote on the answers they think are the best
* Read other questions and answers from the community, sorted by popularity or date
* Quickly view only their own questions to see the answers they've received
* See what Google search says about their question

With the Get Answers gadget, new members can ask questions and get up to speed quickly, current members can share information relevant to your site topic or other topics of interest to them, and you (the site owner) can learn more about the interests of your community, which can help you tailor your content to your visitors' needs. As the site owner, you remain in full control and can moderate the gadget by deleting any inappropriate questions or answers.

View a sample site using this gadget, or learn more about the Get Answers gadget and how to add it to your own site.

Posted by Barry Welch, Social App Developer