Around the Net
Is OpenSocial to its Own Party?
- CNET, Friday, December 14, 2007 11:30 AM
In late October, Google announced OpenSocial to a great deal of fanfare. Media critics responded by touting the developer consortium, which uses open source code to allow developers to create and
run universal applications across a network of social sites, as the future of the social Web. But that was six weeks ago.
Yesterday, Facebook announced that its own developer network, whose platform has been around since May, would go live with Bebo, the Web's No. 3 social network, as its first partner. Meanwhile, OpenSocial isn't finished, and according to Bebo CEO Michael Birch--whose company is also part of Google's group--Google's initiative won't be ready until "early 2008."
Since the OpenSocial announcement, a number of Google's partners have launched
independent platforms of their own. This week alone saw LinkedIn, Friendster and Bebo unveil their own developer offerings. Some critics are now wondering if OpenSocial will get lost amid a glut of
developer options if it doesn't move quickly.
Said Forrester Research senior analyst Jeremiah Owyang. "There are already multiple APIs, and it really is going to come down to what are developers going to choose to use, which one is going to be easier for them." Meanwhile, OpenSocial developer Joe Kraus, a director of product management at Google, would only say, "We've made a lot of progress..."
