Facebook unfriends Google+

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is the most followed user on the
Google+ social network. But he doesn't want users of his own social network
 to easily switch over to the Google rival

        Facebook blocks its users from exporting their contacts into the Google+ social network launched by Google Inc. last week, suspected members of the hacker group Anonymous are arrested in Italy and Canadian social media dashboard HootSuite celebrates hitting the two million user milestone with a neat little infographic.

Facebook stymies potential user exodus

Mark Zuckerberg might be the most followed user on Google+, but that doesn’t mean the 27 year-old Facebook chief executive is a fan of the Web search firm’s latest stab at social.

Shortly after Google+ began accepting members on an invite-only system last week, Canadian-educated open-source programmer Mohamed Mansour created an extension for the Google Chrome browser called, in no unclear terms, the Facebook Friend Exporter. The add on was designed for use by anyone who wanted to move their Facebook contacts to another online location — not specifically Google+.

Of course, being able to transfer a complete social graph would be a key selling point for a fledgling young social network, and so the extension immediately proved quite popular among early Google+ adopters. It currently has more than 17,000 users, according to ZDNet’s Emil Protalinski’s most recent count.

Recognizing the extension was, in effect, helping its chief rival, Facebook throttled and eventually blocked access to it as of Tuesday morning. Mr. Mansour’s creation does appear to violate Facebook’s terms of service, specifically section 3.2 which prohibits developers from collecting any user information automatically.

“I am scraping my own data that my Facebook friends allowed me to use and view,” said Mr. Mansour in a Google+ conversation with CNET’s Stephen Shankland on Monday.

“Facebook doesn’t own my friends.”

“I want my friends to be in a place that is easily accessible, extractable, and shareable. And if that results a ban/expulsion/termination, so be it,” Mr. Mansour said.

The blockade has reignited a long standing disagreement between the two companies over who owns the user data contained on their respective networks. Google, with its simple to use Takeout service, clearly believes the answer is the user his/herself while Facebook appears to have a stronger attachment to its users.

Meanwhile, the Google+ app for the Apple Inc. iOS platform is already awaiting approval. With some even willing to pay cash to gain access, Google+ is looking like a much stronger Facebook rival than Google’s last attempt at doing something social.