Google Pulls out the Standards Hammer
Dare Obasanjo has some good insight on what Google will likely accomplish with their entry into the social media API space: they'll force a standard.
If enough momentum gains around OpenSocial, then three things will happen
- Widget developers will start to favor coding to OpenSocial because it supports multiple sites as well as targeting the Facebook platform
- Eventually Facebook platform developers will start asking Zuckerburg and company to support OpenSocial so they only need to worry about one code base (kinda, it won’t be that easy)
- Other companies with proprietary widget platforms or plans to create one will bow down to the tide and adopt OpenSocial
That sounds about right to me - it will be interesting to watch two things over the next little while:
- What will adoption of this API look like?
- Will Facebook feel pressured to support it?
Comments
Who does he know?
[Tom K] October 31, 2007 14:15:10.794
Dare has a "god insight"? Is he in touch with some deity about this? :{)
Email replacement
[John Bayko] November 1, 2007 13:18:10.906
I left a comment here a while ago on the subject of email and spam, where I suggested that some alternate , more spam-resistant technology will be developed to the point where it can replace email in most cases. Two possibilities I gave were something like a syndication protocol like RSS, and an expansion of social networking services (which can transfer private messages) using standard protocols to replace proprietary ones.
I was kind of hoping for the syndication protocols to win because I'm not much for social networking sites, but either way, if it can get rid of spam eventually, I'm all for it.