Nov

Google & Open Social > Good-bye, Facebook

Posted by: Jeffrey Keefer in Technology

Google announced their Open Social platform yesterday, and this seems to be the next great “thing” out there in the social networking world. For all those who were getting comfortable in the Facebook world, it will once again start to slip away in favor or open API and programming architecture. The days of hiding behind a member’s only wall where nothing can be exported seem to be drawing to a close (remember AOL?).

Google never does anything without a business plan to make a bucket of money, so I wonder what this will do (expect draw people to their sites again rather to to Facebook)?

This entry was posted on Friday, November 2nd, 2007 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 comments so far

Ernie

You really think so? Obviously I’ve been taking a close look at this stuff. Here’s the thing though - the OpenSocial API emphasis seems to be more on developers wanting to create Facebook-like app’s for social networks that aren’t Facebook. I might be missing something completely obvious, but the immediate payoff doesn’t necessarily seem to be for the user per say, but for the developer wanting to make their application available for many social networks.

Having OpenSocial out there doesn’t mean Facebook is going to shut down - a social networking app is only as powerful as the users that are on them. Having OpenSocial in the wild just means Facebook now has more pressure to make their applications platform open.

I’m following a friend who recently twittered this: “Social network tools are just a filter on my life, not a framework. They could vanish and I’d be fine, so I’m skeptical at their valuations.” While they are a framework for a new generation of college students and Facebook users, I’m not sure that having your wacky My Favorite Movies widget will be a life changer for millions of Internet users out there.

November 2nd, 2007 at 4:36 pm

Jeffrey Keefer

I agree with everything you said, except for the part about Google that seems to be on a non-stop domination of anything they attempt, not to mention that I have not seen them partner with many organizations that they would just as soon buy. They are developing a coalition to promote their own products while at the same time reducing what they deem to be a competitor (Facebook) without having to spend any money in the process.

Google wants to be in the center of anything that is hot, all the while selling ads along the way and making money. An open architecture that will allow for the same cool tools that can be shared and implemented on a wider scale for social networking (similar to Wordpress plug-ins, Amazon search boxes, and some of the nifty toys that Yahoo has acquired but not fully figured out what to do with yet (or so it seems)) will give Facebook a run for the money. Yes, it will force Facebook to change how it plays the game it has created, which will in turn expand OpenSocial apps since a large mass of people will suddenly see more options from their friends at Google. Whatever the scenario, Google wins. All, by the way, while being free and perceived as a champion of open source.

Somewhat ironic, I think; all except for even more information that Google will collect for their own (mark my words, insidious) purposes.

November 2nd, 2007 at 4:55 pm