Thread

There’s a good blog entry on TechCrunch about Google’s new OpenSocial API.

For those who haven’t heard of it, its a very strong response to Facebook’s recent decision to open their platform to 3rd party developers.  Google’s approach will be to allow developers to create 3rd-party applications for various participating sites (i.e. LinkedIn, Plaxo, Okrut, etc.)  If OpenSocial takes off, which I think it will, Facebook will eventually be pressured to open their platform as well.

I’d like to know if anyone is planning to leverage the technology, especially EE admins.

Also wanted to note that I’m not just speaking about the social-networking aspects, but also how to leverage the opportunities that might come from the technology and community development itself. 

I know that in regards to social networking, some similar discussions have been posted here before.  There was this discussion about a social networking module, where one member makes the good point that EE is more tailored to content than profiles.  A similar discussion is also found here (I think that OpenSocial renders post #10 re: facebook on shaky ground).

If Orkut is any indication, I do not have high hopes, but we will be waiting until we can actually look into the API more closely.  As the ArsTechnica people mentioned in their posting yesterday, Google has everyone on board except those that count.

Depends on the context of “those that count”

ArsTechnica does point out that:

Any social network can decide to use OpenSocial, and a number of big (and small) names have already joined up for launch. LinkedIn, Orkut, Friendster, Salesforce, Ning, Hi5, Plaxo, Viadeo, and Oracle are all on board to make use of OpenSocial’s offerings. A number of developers have already joined in, including iLike, Flixter, and Slide. When OpenSocial goes live tomorrow at http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial, however, anyone who wants to develop widgets can do so, including you and me.

Its the long tail that interests me.  True, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc. are not on board with this, but they also aren’t on board with AdSense either.  😊 

There are some interesting opportunities to capitalize on here, and I’m sure that Wordpress, Blogger, etc are thinking about them.  I’m curious to see how ExpressionEngine responds.

The great thing about EE is that you can do it yourself. And really, we could care less about what other blog and CMS systems do. If OpenSocial turns out to be a good thing, there are certainly interesting possibilities. But really, its going to take quite a bit of time to see if its worth considering supporting first party.

And again, since its an open api and EE is made to be extended, there is no reason developers couldn’t figure a solution out if they need it for a project.

Many people claim Atom support in their applications and on their sites as well, but taking a look at feed statistics it has not outpaced RSS 2.0 even remotely years after being adopted.  A long tail means nothing if it is not widely adopted *and* used.  Going by the list of people who have “joined up” only LinkedIn and Oracle (whose social app is internal) have any real relevance and weight to me.  Further, considering Blogger only recently was able to get comment notifications enabled (and still lacks many basic blogging features), I would not really hold out hope.

But as Les mentions, EE is designed in such a way that developers can add this support if they want rather easily, even if we do not built it in ourselves.  That is one of the reasons we design ExpressionEngine more as a CMS “platform” rather than a do everything web publishing application.  Not everyone wants ever single thing, and it makes more sense to make it possible rather than to make it requisite.

Google has everyone on board except those that count.

Hey Paul…It’s just been confirmed by TechCrunch that MySpace is onboard…do they count?
😊

quote]Google has everyone on board except those that count.

Hey Paul…It’s just been confirmed by TechCrunch that MySpace is onboard…do they count?
😊

Do you have a MySpace profile PXLated? Really?

No, I avoid the social apps, but that’s totally beside the point.
You have to admit, adding MySpace puts the whole thing into a different light, MySpace counts to a lot of people. Every band I know has a space. 😊

MySpace is a chaotic supernova that will hopefully collapse into a black hole that will suck in all of Web 2.0.

No, I avoid the social apps, but that’s totally beside the point.
You have to admit, adding MySpace puts the whole thing into a different light, MySpace counts to a lot of people. Every band I know has a space. 😊

And bands are going to use APIs?

Yeah, I can’t say the inclusion of MySpace fills me with any warm, fluffy feelings of hope.

I wasn’t advocating getting involved in the APIs or that bands will or anyone will. I could give a rip. But, MySpace has a lot of users so the addition IS meaningful. Ars happened to opinionate a little early, one of the problems out in the blogspere. I think adding MySpace lends a little more credence to the effort and could be a big deal depending on how this all transpires.

Edit-Add-1: The APIs aren’t meant for the bands, the kids, or any of the other users anyway. Boy you guys are cranky today 😊
Edit-Add-2: I guess everyone hates MySpace… Mashable Poll (View Results) ...Other than the billions of users I suppose.
Edit-Add-3: This is like watching a good chess match. Facebook makes a move and all the others surround their King. I see a certain over-hyped blog platform company has joined too. Of course we knew that was coming as the guy heading up the Google thing came from there.

Why let the EE developers have all the fun?

http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial/

Edit-Add-2: I guess everyone hates MySpace… Mashable Poll (View Results) ...Other than the billions of users I suppose.
Edit-Add-3: This is like watching a good chess match. Facebook makes a move and all the others surround their King. I see a certain over-hyped blog platform company has joined too. Of course we knew that was coming as the guy heading up the Google thing came from there.

Taking both of those points and drinking them in deeply, I’d think that you’d be proud of us for having a company culture that does not bend like a reed to the trend winds, and that we value our standards higher than a quick buck.