Around the Net
Imeem And Splintering of Open Platforms
- TechCrunch, Tuesday, March 25, 2008 11:15 AM
Imeem has become the latest social media site to release its software development kit to programmers. It's also the latest OpenSocial member to do so, putting the social music provider in the
company of AOL's Bebo and News Corp.'s MySpace. But why are OpenSocial members bothering to release their owns SDKs? Isn't a universal platform the point of OpenSocial? Instead, imeem's move leads to
more splintering.
Even though imeem claims that support for the Google-led initiative is "coming soon," OpenSocial is still limited in what it can offer programmers. For example, the
networked platform initiative wouldn't enable programmers to incorporate Imeem's vast catalog of music in an application on MySpace or Bebo--as third party licensing agreements prevent certain
features from one social network being brought to another.
The social music site has 24 million worldwide members. It's growing rapidly and offers free access to music from the big four recording companies. The platform also gives developers' access to imeem's media player, music search, recommendation engine, member profile data, contacts, playlists, videos and photos.
