Google has introduced a new social feature to Gmail — called the People Widget — which makes it easier for you to connect with your colleagues and friends.

The widget finds content that has been created by these people that you might not have easily found elsewhere. Next to every email message you receive, you can access contextual information about the people included in that email thread, including recent emails you have received from them, events created on Google Calendar and documents you share with them.

From the widget, which will be positioned to the right of your email messages, you will have quick access to several ways in which you can communicate with individuals in the email thread. You can chat to one person in particular, start a group chat or schedule a meeting with several people at once.

The People Widget, which will be rolled out to Gmail users over the next 2 weeks, is Google’s latest attempt at creating a successful social product. Google’s previous attempts at creating a successful social product have not gone smoothly – Google Buzz, for instance, has brought little but trouble to the search giant. Google has also launched a social sharing button called +1, but it is too early to tell if this social product will be a success. The success of Google’s social products this year has high stakes for Google employees, with 25 percent of their annual bonuses reportedly tied to how well the social products perform.