• TechCrunch, Wednesday, October 10, 2007 12 PM

As novel an idea as the Facebook Platform certainly was, there's absolutely nothing stopping other social networks from opening their borders to third-party software developers, too. According to separate reports from TechCrunch, Google plans to take the "open" concept to the next level by allowing developers to create programs across its many Web properties and services, while MySpace is gearing up to launch its own developer platform sometime next week.

MySpace's platform will work much like Facebook's in that developers will be able to create applications using Flash, iFrame and Javascript that run within MySpace and are stored on its servers. Upon gaining user consent, developers will have access to resources like profile information, friends' lists and activity history. Also like Facebook, MySpace developers will be able to serve advertising and keep 100 percent of the revenue--which TechCrunch points out is a big departure for the News Corp. site.

Google, meanwhile, is planning a similar move. Set tentatively for November 5, the Web giant will allow developers to create programs for its iGoogle home page and Orkut, its social network. Future expansions will include programs like Gmail and Google Maps, but rumor has it that Google wants to let developers use the data culled from its sites to create programs on third-party Web sites like Facebook, Bebo, and MySpace. What Google wants is a free data exchange between publishers through third-party liaisons. "And that is a potentially killer strategy," says TechCrunch.

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