Power to the widgets
Gathering some thoughts about last weeks announcement about Google OpenSocial. Several sources have discussed it’s potential impact.
It’s not me, it’s you
Concluding thoughts on a lot of posts is that OpenSocial is, in it’s current shape, mainly beneficial for developers. This might, and probably will, change as the concept continues to develop. My guess would be that it will end up something similar to OpenID and Microformats.
The users are not to benefit in any particular way from it right now. Which social networking site (SNS) I prefer will continue to be based on where my friends are rather than which apps that are available.
Facebook’s platform is one part of the success recipe but surely not all of it. Facebook has a great interface and probably the best executed UI of any social networking site thus far. With its current momentum it will not go away just because I can get the FunWall application on my Orkut or MySpace profile.
From a user perspective it would create more value if the OpenSocial players would have embraced Microformats but instead it truly is a milestone for the “Widget economy”. Players like RockYou and Slide now have the potential of being more profitable than their distribution channels, the Social networks.
Widgets are here to stay
OpenSocial delivers extensive distribution possibilities never seen before for widget companies, even if widgets or apps are only part of the social mix today, given more power and distribution they will continue to grow stronger.
We’ll see a much more leveled playing field, where widget companies will not depend on SNS but instead SNS becomes dependent on the widget suppliers.
[tags]Facebook, myspace, widgets, social netowrks, sns, opensocial[/tags]
Andra bloggar om: facebook, opensocial, sociala nätverk, widgets
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