Google has launched a new set of ‘common APIs’ for Social Networks called OpenSocial.
Using the OpenSocial tools, web developers can create new ‘Gadgets’ that can plug into Social Networking websites and utilise their social networks to attract users and spread the gadget.
If you have ever seen one of the ‘Apps’ that developers have created for Facebook, you will get the idea.
What does this mean for web designers? For a start, it could be a very fast way to attract a large audience to your online applications or websites. Say you have a site that tells snowboarders about conditions at different resorts around the world. You could use Google’s OpenSocial to create a Gadget that users can customise to show their local resort’s conditions in their MySpace profile. Because OpenSocial is going to be used by all the main Social Networking sites (with the possible exception of Facebook) you won’t need to redevelop code for each site you want to have your ‘Gadget’ available on.
Take a look at this video for more details and inspiration:
Micosoft has invested $240,000 (USD) in Facebook in a deal valuing the social networking site at $15bn.
Facebook is enjoying meteoric growth, set to eclipse rival myspace in the very near future:
So, what’s behind the rapid growth and huge valuation? Facebook grew to popularity by offering college students exclusive access, you had to have a college email address to gain access to the site, and on joining would be included in your exclusive college network. This private, elite, space gave it’s users a feeling of exclusivity and a feeling of a community closely related to their real-life friends.
Once the community had been established Facebook opened up to the general public, and those users who had previously only been able to inlcude their college friends all expanded their networks rapidly bringing in millions of new users.
Of course, now they have lost their exlcusive ‘college-only’ appeal but the traffic stats seem to indicate that the party is a long way from over. Innovations such as opening up the platform to developers to add their own widgets and tools to the site have proved incredibly popular with users and the site is becoming almost a web within the web.
Although this new deal with Microsoft is for only a very small percentage of the company, the software giant is now engaged in the social media phenomenon and has secured an exclusive advertising deal in the process.
Google has launched a new set of ‘common APIs’ for Social Networks called OpenSocial.
