paragiraffe

Last week Google announced their OpenSocial API. I have to agree with those who don’t get it or are panning it — I think I’m also missing the point, somehow. Here’s what I know.

• Google has its own social networking site, and it’s called Orkut. It’s almost entirely populated by Brazilians. So, the good news is you can now build widgets for all your South American friends.
• MySpace and Facebook are woefully absent from their coalition list. Obviously, they are the largest players in this space.
• It’s competition/an alternative for the Facebook API.

I think Facebook is by far the frontrunner in the social networking scene for a few reasons. First, people are their real selves on Facebook, not as opposed to other sites, but more than other sites. This is valuable data. Second, people feel safe posting their 1000 drunken pictures of themselves, because only their friends can view them. I think Facebook’s closed nature is actually of great appeal to people, although that’ll eventually fall by the wayside — I mean, who uses AOL anymore? Finally, since Facebook seeks to map real-life social networks, it’s a great place for people who aren’t looking to meet us crazies on the internets.

So the moral of the story is, I don’t think this matters much unless Google gets buy-in from Facebook, or if Facebook’s dominance somehow declines.

See also: Google and Friends to Gang Up on Facebook, Figuring out OpenSocial, Open Social: a new universe of social applications all over the web and An Open Facebook API vs Google OpenSocial .

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