19 New iGoogle Social Gadgets

Ever since Google first launched iGoogle in 2007, the homepage of choice for millions of people has been a central hub from which to check email, news, and stocks. Now, iGoogle gets social…very social.

Today Google announced 19 social gadgets for iGoogle for iGoogle. They let you share and collaborate with friends, stay posted on friend updates, and challenge your Google contacts to a few games.

A complete list of iGoogle games

We all like to take a break, or two, and what better way to take five at work than to challenge your friend in the next cubicle to a game! Your iGoogle page can now include games you can play with friends, and although this is the list for now, I’m sure it will grow soon as more gadgets are developed!

1. Who has the biggest brain?
2. Chess
3. Scrabble
4. Social crossword
5. Trivia
6. Flood it
7. Tile Game

Media Sharing Gadgets for iGoogle

Stay posted on the latest news and buzz on the Internet with the following iGoogle gadgets:

1. NPR
2. The Huffington Post
3. YouTube
4. Flixter movies
5. Access Hollywood

Other entertainment gadgets include:

1. Horoscope
2. GoComics
3. Captions (Allows you to add funny captions to photos around the web!)
   
4. Timeline

The one productivity gadget to go social:

1. To-Do list gadget lets you share your to-do list, and hopefully also share in the tasks. You can use it as a shopping list as well, and coordinate with family or friends what needs to be purchased at your next trip to the grocery store. Whether for your weekly shopping, or when you are planning a party. The social to-do list is probably the most useful and productive gadget in this line-up.

iGoogle stepping into social networking

iGoogle now also has a news feed called “Updates”, which is somewhat similar to the news feed on, for example, Facebook. The updates include any new activities on shared gadgets such as photo albums. You can control what you get updated on by adjusting your social settings for each gadget on your iGoogle.

I wonder though how much of the market Google can conquer now, after Facebook and Twitter are established as popular social networking tools.

How many true Google fans will make the switch entirely to your iGoogle homepage? Or will you use these gadgets on iGoogle, but still use your other social networking accounts? Let us know in the comments!