Posted on January 12, 2008 at 1:15 pm | 
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Google recently launched their OpenSocial product, aiming to bring together APIs to build applications which are cross social network compatible. The idea seems great, I expected or hoped for the majority of social networks to follow suit, but Facebook have opened up their Platform Standards in competition. Perhaps Microsoft’s stake in the Platform has had some sway.
Bebo has welcomed the cross Web site application trend and has become the first to adopt the Facebook Platform Standards. They’re also planning to support OpenSocial in 2008. I really like their attitude, the idea of opening up APIs is semantically brilliant. The Semantic Web is about ‘common formats for integration and combination of data drawn from diverse sources’. Of course the facebook model and that of all social networking sites relies on advertising, advertising largely based on the valuable information gathered from each sites’ members, so the information becomes a commodity. Wherever there’s a potential commodity there will be competing forces trying to get their share of it.
Profit will always win over semantic interest, but, well done to Bebo for the move!
2 Comments
So far,
January 12, 2008 @ 
Paul Fabretti
Good post Paul (as bloody almost always!).
There’s a fairly valid argument saying that if Facebook can’t beat the Open Social alliance it may as well join it, but I can’t help thinking this has a whiff of defeat about doing it.
Most people would agree that Open Social was launched in direct competition to what Facebook did in the first place - so who is the victor and who is the defeated foe now?
With the experience that Facebook have gained thus far in understanding the vast amounts of data that their closed data has no doubt given them, I think they have the ability to become THE dominant figure in the alliane, not Google.
(god, did that sound like Star wars or what??!)