The much talked about OpenSocial APIs which Google is spearheading is officially announced jointly by Google and MySpace. Touted as collaborative tool that would spark and simplify web innovation, OpenSocial promises to standardize and simplify the development of social applications by offering a set of common APIs geared towards the development of “open” and “freely” available social network applications and tools.
Chris De Wolfe, CEO and Co-founder of MySpace said that MySpace’s decision to join the OpenSocial initiative is about helping start-ups spend more time building a great product rather than rebuilding it for every social network.
“Our partnership with Google allows developers to gain massive distribution without unnecessary specialized development for every platform,” says De Wolfe.
Google top honcho, Eric Schmidt said that his company is thrilled to work together with MySpace in the OpenSocial initiative.
As the most trafficked website in the country and the most popular social network in the world, MySpace is one of the leading forces in the global social Web,” says Schmidt.
MySpace is joining other global social networking sites as founding members of OpenSocial. Among these members are Friendster, hi5, LinkedIn, Six Apart, Google’s Orkut among other social networking sites. With MySpace and Google at the helm of OpenSocial, critical user mass and platform guidance are set to be provided for the evolution of OpenSocial standards.
For what OpenSocial proclaims itself to be, one can’t help but wonder why Facebook was left out of the crowd? Facebook’s Brandee Barker, Director of corporate communications, said that they were not aware of the intiative during its initial stage.
It’s alright to form a group and work on a common goal together, but to disguise that common goal as being for the greater good of the whole social network community, while at the same time leaving out and excluding a member of the same community from joining the group is a different thing all together. Makes you wonder, how open is OpenSocial really?
