Facebook Vs. OpenSocial - Reminds Me of Browser Wars
Google is doing their best to create an API that everyone can use to develop social applications for any container. Facebook is doing their best to create an API that developers can use to quickly produce applications on their container. Should Facebook jump on the OpenSocial band wagon? It's too early for me to cast my vote.
I have been developing an application for the Facebook container and I'm impressed with their API so far. It's easy to use, pretty intuitive, and has a lot of functionality. But my app is pretty simple. What happens when an application gets really complex, involves lots of developers and updates? Coding for Facebook, MySpace, Google, Bebo, Orkut and Hi5 could start to get messy.
The idea behind OpenSocial is to code to one API and release your application to many containers. That way the focus goes toward developing killer apps and not managing social containers. The more I think about it, the better it sounds.
HUGONGO is a multi-dimensional social application that draws on several different levels of relationships but relies on the critical mass of a large social network. If there was a way to tap into all the containers, while still allowing each user to stay within their preferred social network, it might make an even better solution. Still too early to tell, but I'll keep you posted!
I have been developing an application for the Facebook container and I'm impressed with their API so far. It's easy to use, pretty intuitive, and has a lot of functionality. But my app is pretty simple. What happens when an application gets really complex, involves lots of developers and updates? Coding for Facebook, MySpace, Google, Bebo, Orkut and Hi5 could start to get messy.
The idea behind OpenSocial is to code to one API and release your application to many containers. That way the focus goes toward developing killer apps and not managing social containers. The more I think about it, the better it sounds.
HUGONGO is a multi-dimensional social application that draws on several different levels of relationships but relies on the critical mass of a large social network. If there was a way to tap into all the containers, while still allowing each user to stay within their preferred social network, it might make an even better solution. Still too early to tell, but I'll keep you posted!
