MySpace, Bebo and SixApart have joined the OpenSocial group, which I think is a big boost. I still do not feel it right to call it alliance, the agenda is still not completely in place. But I think it is good news, better for developers, and I think in the long run it will be better for the users as well. Presence of Oracle and Salesforce.com, which are not social networks, offer strength from a different perspective, making the API more lucrative.
There have been some very interesting discussions as well. Michael Arrington asks if it is a checkmate for Facebook. Tim Lee argues it will not be very easy to topple Facebook off its position. Even Erick Schonfeld warns, that it might be too soon to suggest so because the users have still not voted on OpenSocial, it is still about the developers. He also brings up the Apple-Microsoft anology. Dare compares Google to the old Microsoft. However, I think Google is reacting differently than the way Microsoft has. It is inviting others and opening up the world than closing it.
As much as I dislike the walled gardens, Facebook’s decisions seem to be aimed at improving self, not competing with others. This is the biggest concern with OpenSocial today. It is all about competing with Facebook today, nobody is talking about how it will be better for the people. Facebook has that side tilted towards itself today.
I like the way Bill de hÓra explains it as a gateway, and that is what it is. But it is time to show its benefits to the end users. OpenSocial, inspite of being an API, cannot be about developers. It will work only if it better than Facebook for the people, especially whether it can boost interoperability within networks.
I do not use Facebook very actively, neither do a lot of my friends. I do have accounts in multiple social networks, but there has been no tipping point for me, because the circle is split across too many of them. Will OpenSocial help me? I hope, but I do not know.
