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Location: Google, 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy., Building 43, Mountain View, CA Panel: Chris Schalk, Developer Programs, Google
Joseph Smarr, Chief Platform Architect, Plaxo
Akash Garg, Co-Founder/CTO, Hi5 Networks
This meeting was packed, as were the last few meetings I've been to at Google. At $20 bucks a pop (for Web Guild members, such as I) and on such a marginal subject, that's something. Maybe it's because Google is a big, big, big deal. Maybe because all of the Facebook/Microsoft related stories in the news lately. OpenSocial is an open social network web application platform being developed by companies such as Hi5 (think monster myspace espanol) and Plaxo, and stewarded by Google. The future of OpenSocial is pure open source, or so they say. In that future, users of social networking sites will only have to enter and maintain one set of data, that can be used across all the sites they would like to be part of. A win-win proposition for social networking sites, OpenSocial offers the possibility to share users. With current proprietary models, people are less likely to enter and maintain multiple sets of profile data. When one site gains users, another loses users (or uses losers, as Joseph Smarr freudian slipped). Why OpenSocial? Universal standards that allow developers and marketers to do it once, rather than once for each website, as it is now with myspace, facebook, friendster and so on. So, to go back to an earlier comment, I described this subject as marginal, because developing widgets for, or marketing on social networking sites is not what I do. It's always possible that I'll get a call tomorrow from someone looking to do just that, so for that reason I feel the need to develop a basic understanding. OpenSocial is an API (application programming interface) for social networking sites that is hosted by Google, or a number of other "container partners" such as Hi5 and Plaxo. Here are some links of interest: The code: http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/
Testing environments:
Orkut Sandbox - Need to be approved first
Hi5 Sandbox - sandbox.hi5.com |
