Website Hype

OpenSocial seems to be the word, (or is it words?), on everyone’s lips at the moment. And in case you don’t know what that is, it’s a set of common application programming interfaces (API’s) for web-based social network applications, that has been developed by Google, and was released today, November 1, 2007. So what does this mean? Applications implementing the OpenSocial API’s will be interoperable with any social network system that supports them, including features on sites such as MySpace and Friendster.

OpenSocial provides as a more open cross-platform alternative to the Facebook Platform, and was initially seen as a potential challenge to the big social networks, such as MySpace and Facebook. However it now seems that MySpace has joined OpenSocial as a partner. Chris De Wolfe, CEO and co-founder of MySpace, says, “this is about helping the start-up spend more time building a great product rather than rebuilding it for every social network.” Now everyone is waiting for the reaction of Facebook, whose platform has received some criticism for not being open enough.

The whole project will tie together Google, MySpace and numerous other social networking platforms in a common environment that application publishers can publish widgets to with one set of code.

Since the release of OpenSocial, it has apparently already been hacked. Somebody going under the handle of theharmonyguy, and claiming to be a mere amateur, has already compromised the RockYou OpenSocial application on Plaxo called emote, having added a number of emoticons to Plaxo VP Marketing John McCrea’s profile within 45 minutes of it launching.