MySpace Platform To Launch Next Week

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1. Will Microsoft Acquire Facebook?
   

   October 9th, 2007 at 9:48 pm

   I was reading Fastcompany. It seem Facebook have closer relations with Microsoft and Bill Gates. Mark wanted to be more like Bill Gates.

   I like the sound MS Facebook. Imagine, Microsoft acquires Facebook and help them build new class operating system.

2. Pete
   

   October 9th, 2007 at 9:56 pm

   Who is on board for launch?

3. Steve Spalding
   

   October 9th, 2007 at 10:00 pm

   I don’t really think that MySpace should be letting people add -more- cruft to its system. I hope that the first app lets you remove all the flashing gifs and blink tags from the platform.

4. Zaid
   

   October 9th, 2007 at 10:01 pm

   “Applications will need to be hosted on MySpace servers.”

   I can only wonder how that will work out.

5. Tcruncher2
   

   October 9th, 2007 at 10:03 pm

   While I think this is a great move -> Myspace seriously needs a graphical facelift.

   The site is so fking outdated is unbelievable. While sure sure, many ppl will say “a new facelift may alienate users” –> I highly doubt it. I really think Rupert needs to get his cronys to fork out some cash to make myspace look better. Maybe then they can obtain new and increased growth and fit back against the Facebook revolution.

   Mike Agree –> Someone needs to integrate all these services together and form a site that enables easy third party development. Open-source would be cool, but even a non-open source model with a slice of revenue on the size would be good. Even better would be to create a third party app website which has its own ad-serving platform

   My 2 cents..

6. Israel LHeureux
   

   October 9th, 2007 at 10:06 pm

   Tim O’Reiley says that 84% of the Facebook apps have 87% of the traffic. Who ARE those big winners? Slide & RockYou widgets. Hmm, those already work on MySpace.

   Think about this: was all the Facebook hoopla this summer (mostly) just MySpace catch up? Not much new was created and widely adopted that didn’t already exist on other, more “open” networks.

   So then, what will MySpace’s win will be in opening up their platform?

   Oh, look here:
   1) MySpace has a 3-4x larger network.
   2) Apps run on MySpace. Sort of a pmarca level3 company.

   Not to mention that MySpace has a track record of folks making money (countless profile stylez sites) and being acquired (photobucket). And MySpace still has all the bands.

   3 cheers for MZ and co for trying to grab a $10B brass ring. But what will it look like a year or two from now? Fighting against NEWS and GOOG won’t be easy, particularly when you aren’t making any real money.

   Best of luck, guys!

7. Frank Sinton
   

   October 9th, 2007 at 10:12 pm

   Competition indeed! Can’t wait to start developing for MySpace!

8. Agnes
   

   October 9th, 2007 at 10:14 pm

   Par for the course. I cannot wait to see how this will play out…

9. Peter Kazanjy
   

   October 9th, 2007 at 10:24 pm

   Good lord. MySpace is launching a platform? If the fit and finish, and attention to detail of the larger site (login error message still a grammatical/typographical train wreck years later, “You Must Be Logged-In to do That!”) are anything to go by, I’m not holding my breath.

   Versus that architecture Facebook’s put together, powered by some of the best and brightest engineers that can be found in Valley? Backed by the funding and network of the Paypal mafia? The only thing that is more robust than the site’s popularity and growth is the talent pool the organization is pulling together to sustain it.

   Facebook’s got the momentum and the demographics of the users that traffic the site skews educated and monied, versus MySpace’s population (http://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2007/06/24/viewing_america.html)

   What user attention pool would you want to monetize against? I think I’d like to shoot at the entirety of the American college-graduate population of the last five years and a growing number of educated, technical professionals (i.e., Facebook users).

10. Israel LHeureux
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:26 pm

    err, typo. Sorry Tim O’Reilly

11. Deals and Coupons
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:32 pm

    Wow! FB, Google, and now MySpace. Who’s next?

12. skeptical dude
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:38 pm

    I seriously doubt that myspace can pull this off. They don’t have the right kinda of disipline to do this right without it being full of security holes.

13. Sam
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:38 pm

    Facebook has moved away from its “core”. It used to be clean and simple but now it is cluttered with junk (although not as bad as Myspace). There is a need for a simple Social Network that does simple things:
    1. Connect friends
    2. Share content (Pictures, Videos, Music)
    3. Blog (Maybe)
    4. Maintains its cleanliness

14. phenom
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:39 pm

    Myspace is too late in the market to launch a platform. FB did that a long time ago, and has practically so many applications already build on it. Imagine doing the same with myspace now. Myspace can’t beat FB…well let steve ballmer think social networking sites are fad.
    http://vidsonly.blogspot.com

15. B.Ackles
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:40 pm

    Rupert Murdock is a buy now, blast with annoying yet effective ads & then hands off type of guy. Money, Money, Money… Kind of a ‘iWon.com’ technique!

    Mark Zuckerberg is more modest, elegant and strategic… Better fitting for a platform kind of business.

    Bottom line: Rupert & Tom should focus on the money and acquiring all those hot virtual lovers I’m spammed with daily. That’s where there monetization comes form.

16. Dan Ackerman Greenberg
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:42 pm

    So this throws a whole kink into our “let’s teach a class about Facebook” game, huh?

    Who knows, maybe our second assignment will have to be a MySpace app!

    Dan Ackerman Greenberg
    Stanford ‘08
    http://www.ackermangreenberg.com

17. myspace comments
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:44 pm

    Big deal, They are still going to filter out the links with their msplink system so there is going to be no SEO benefit .

18. Hashim Warren
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:49 pm

    Oh yeah, and Sixapart is moving to open the social graph up on the open web.

    “Someone is hopefully working on a startup that will streamline that process for people. Whoever does it first, and best, can have a winner on their hands.”

    Or better yet, the first to find a way to monetize these apps will win.

19. Sheetstache McClure
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:54 pm

    Dan, don’t drop the class yet. Wait until you get to the 2nd page of the syllubus, where we talk about the RockYou widget phase 3!!!

20. David Litsky
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:55 pm

    Arrington, software already exists that makes it simple

    http://vbulletin.com/

21. Bob
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 10:58 pm

    Peter Kazanjy: Remember who actually looks at/clicks on ads on the Internet.

    (hint: it’s more MySpace’s audience than FB’s)

    I prefer using FB, but from a $/user point-of-view, I’d bet on MySpace.

22. Tom
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:00 pm

    I think this is great news for app developers. mySpace probably realized that attracting developers is a good thing. Hasn’t fb exploded ever since they announced their platform? Treat the people that provide content for your site well and they will continue to provide great content. Shutting apps down and competing with them will kill that creativity. Hopefully they both know this. If not, I’m sure someone else will come up with another network or platform that will do this.

23. Mark
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:02 pm

    @Sam

    Such a network exists, ClutterMe.com.

    Mark from ClutterMe

24. Fake Dave McClure
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:06 pm

    There’s only one platform, and only one Fake Dave.

25. theharmonyguy
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:09 pm

    It’ll be interesting to see how this (and Google’s move) plays out. Having worked with the Facebook Platform and several Facebook applications, I’ve been impressed by well-thought out the structure and code are. Granted, it’s not perfect, and Facebook continues to develop it, but a formidable opponent will require a solid API. It’ll also be interesting to compare the different approaches, such as Myspace hosting the apps.

    Security/privacy is also going to become a bigger issue with multiple platforms… Facebook’s done a great job on theirs. There are popular Facebook applications that include coding practices which could create big problems if Facebook hadn’t built their platform the way they did. I wonder how the site where “samy is my hero” spread will deal with iframes and JavaScript, esp. being locally hosted.

    But a bit off-topic, has anyone noticed how quiet Facebook has seemed since the Platform launch? By quiet I mean little news about any major feature changes or improvements. They’ve obviously been working on something all this time, besides Platform issues. I’m sure they’ve put a lot of work into the upcoming friend lists feature, so one wonders what that will be like. In any event, I keep getting the feeling that Facebook has just gotten started - that there could be some major feature announcements in the near future, leaving places like Myspace and Google to play catch-up once again. I doubt Facebook has been resting on its laurels all this time.

26. Sheetstache McClure
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:11 pm

    FDM, not so fast my friend.

    Let me graph you.

27. Seriously
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:20 pm

    This is not competition for Facebook.

    MySpace users are usually the introverted, geeky, loser, low self confidence, non mainstream, wierd types.

    Facebook is where you can find the normal, mainstream, social types.

    Basically the social rejects will be on MySpace while the rest of the world is on Facebook.

    There was a report on this, anyone have a link?

28. Dan Ackerman Greenberg
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:28 pm

    http://www.danah.org/papers/es.....sions.html

29. Mark
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:38 pm

    competition is never a bad thing!

30. eh
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:41 pm

    Another vehicle to sell advertising - yawn. If you look closely at the job statistics, manufacturing employment is falling, and has been for a long time. Just looking superficially at the flow, it seems there’s an inordinate amount of news about these fluff internet sites that exist, from a commercial point of view, only to sell advertising. Is that what the American economy is devolving to? Pathetic.

31. Fake Dave McClure
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:48 pm

    @Sheetstache McClure - Graphing would imply that I recognize you as legitimate sir, and you most certainly are not!

32. Todd
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:48 pm

    They are definitely gearing up for something. The new MySpace layout clearly sets the tone for the new platform. I’m excited! 47 Million user social curve and now a 200 Million user social curve? Let’s go!

33. Don McClure
    

    October 9th, 2007 at 11:50 pm

    Guys, seriously… I was here first.

34. Eric
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 12:00 am

    IMHO, this could bode well for anyone that jumps on this right away. Make sure what you develop is easy to configure, and interesting to the demographic and your in.

35. Ummm....
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 12:38 am

    “MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracized at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers.”

    hahahahaha

    good luck monetizing all these losers

36. Berlin
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 12:39 am

    So based on some posts here, it’s Myspace = Republicans = uneducated = poor = minorities vs Facebook = Democarts = highly educated = rich = white.

37. Ryan Spahn
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 12:58 am

    Great news to hear!

38. B.Ackles
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 1:00 am

    What an intriguing demographic breakdown…

39. wow
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 1:13 am

    WOW! This is amazing news! Theres going to be quite a few people that will make a lot of money in the next few weeks.

40. mess
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 1:26 am

    gosh, another great reason to avoid myspace….i’m tired of waiting for half of the people’s pages to load with all the crap…

41. forcer
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 1:52 am

    Anyone wants to know where the myspace api is located?

    try that: http://api.myspace.com - something is there

42. Jessica Mah
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 2:09 am

    While I’m skeptical about MySpace’s ability to launch a good developer platform, I think it’s a long delayed, yet smart move on their part.

    So many companies are launching off myspace. For myspace to shut them down (as we’ve seen back in photobuckets pre-acquisition days) shows how powerful and influential they are.

    If myspace proves themselves worthy, facebook app developers will begin flooding the myspace developer platform with new cool apps.

43. buzz
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 2:35 am

    This has created quite a reaction from people! Myspace should really try something a bit different if they want to compete with FB though. I also agree that apps would make myspace pages even more over-complicated (which is probably the worst thing about it already!)

44. The Business of Software
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 3:08 am

    MySpace said long ago at a Microsoft conference that they wouldn’t open up. Funny what greed and/or fear can do.

45. Rob
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 3:28 am

    Arrington,
    Just Landed from redeye straight your panel. I See this post. Perhaps the 90k developers who are using the their x axis of coding brilliance combined with their y axis of start-up courage should reconcider taking a few days of their time to try and CREATE something and possibly earn a living thru cpm or to get a meeting once again available on mill road with the entry costs of 3 strabucks and some battery charge since now another couple hundred million people might have access to their work with no seo. I mean that just sounds so stupid compared to the super exciting chance to turn off the alarm clock every morning and go code for an obnoxious “serial entreprenuer” while he leverages the graph behind their back and compares everything to google like he built it.
    Mahalo

46. Yoni Avital
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 3:33 am

    This is great!!! Myspace’s demographic is different, the content is different, and people degree of connection is different. I wonder if smart developers will build attractive application this time.

47. kid mercury
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 3:58 am

    myspace’s core code is not reliable enough. the fundamentals need to be taken care of first.

48. Clement
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 4:14 am

    Interesting developing. Lets see how facebook will respond.

49. Jughead
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 4:47 am

    This war just got a lot bloodier. Google’s Orkut initiative, MySpace (sort of) opening their API, Microsoft’s offer, the growing legions of Nings, the end around by Hi5, the emergence of Black Planet and what seems like hundreds of new “social network” concepts.

    This (social) revolution will be televised….online.

50. Alex Bromberg
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 5:40 am

    Thank you for information. It’s great idea.

51. Dan Schawbel
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 6:04 am

    Facebook had the platform first, which still puts them in the lead. Why waste your time with Myspace when you already can do this with Facebook?

52. Adam Martin
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 6:15 am

    Yikes the knives are out and Signor MySpace had better watch out for the stiletto of spam at it’s throat.

    Following on from Om Malik’s keynote at FOWA last week we’ve yet to see the disruptive apps on Facebook, we’re still in the quick fix, cheap thrills cycle, let it run it’s course then seek to innovate in this space, make your app portable to any network or desktop, when the virtual poop has been virtually scooped we’ll see some exciting developments and real business models emerge in this space.

53. Marco Hansell
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 6:45 am

    re: Hosting on myspaces servers….I am interested in knowing what that means. I’m scared for Myspace…but the possibility that us marketers can FINALLY effectively monetize myspace traffic without tip-toeing or doing some crazy redirects is exciting to me.

    I do know this is going to increase spam, and we’re likely to see tons of Web Cam girl apps.

    @Arrington, the company that can make your application fit all platforms will definiteley be king. I’m betting well see Widgetbox/Clearspring playing in that space once Myspace platform comes.

54. Richard Corsale
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 6:50 am

    Are they going to monitor and review the apps? like could I just make an app that lets users register for a service and retain all of the accounts?

55. The real fake Dave McClure
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 7:27 am

    I’d like to announce the Graphing MySpace Patterns and Glitter Font Conference to be held in the back room of Applebees in lovely Fremont, California.

56. Adensen Ye
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 8:05 am

    Interesting developing. Lets see how facebook will respond.Thank you for information. It’s great idea!

57. Chris
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 9:07 am

    Dear Whitcomb, and Tim, I could whole heartedly not forget Tim A.

    At any rate, thank you for the wonder op. The sitespaces.net widget will be the bestest evar widget to hit myspace since photobucket!

    I promise!
    Chris R.

58. Voices
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 9:22 am

    I didn’t think MySpace would turn down the opportunity to turn into a platform. It was smart of them to watch Facebook act first to ensure that their own platform would be well received. You can bet it will be all the same apps on MySpace.

59. Chris
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 9:34 am

    Actually, I’ll stop being a butthole for a sec. Tom, Whitcomb and DeWolfe, if you read through here, I have something I want to show you. I want you to spend 1 single day at our office, and we’ll pay for your travel.
    Give me a call. If it’s outside of 9-5PM, a fax will have to do.
    418-210-3575

    You’ve known me for a long time, I wouldn’t bullsh*t you. Especially not if I’m paying the fare.
    Do it.

60. david
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 9:47 am

    Well, if its like their Digg close, then it won’t be much

61. Michael Bailey
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 9:49 am

    @sam #13 - you come up with my funding source so that I am able to continue the development of MobaTalk, and you’ll have exactly what you want.

    Michael, sorry buddy, but I’ve tried to contact you several times on this, so you’ll have to sit this one out….j/k but you seem non-responsive (due to be overloaded?)

62. Chris
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 10:03 am

    “MySpace said long ago at a Microsoft conference that they wouldn’t open up. Funny what greed and/or fear can do.”

    You are probably referring to Mix 06. “640k should be enough for anyone” - Gill Bates
    Silicon valley is one big steaming pile of BS. The execs that speak on behalf of companies are as plastic and as bloated as the credit cards in your wallet.

    They are even more scared that startups, because they HAVE big funding, and they have something to lose.

    That being said, even if a drone at myspace reads through, tell Dewolfe or Anderson to read my post please. They won’t regret calling me.

63. Chase Student Loans Webmaster
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 10:11 am

    Looking forward to having the Chase student loan calculator & budget caluclator on MySpace.

    http://www.chasestudentloans.c.....lator.html

64. JP
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 10:16 am

    This is nice counter move and all by myspace, but in the end, isnt this just the beginning of a pattern that happens again and again? A concept grows a userbase to a critical mass, which then moves on to a better and more open version of it (remember when AOL was the king? and then grandma found the internet — I think a lot of the web2.0 guys at 20-22 are too young to really remember that period well).

    The pattern seems to cluster, and then spread users.

    I think social networks are just a stepping stone towards the semantic web, with an open social graph that follows you where you go as a stepping stone towards that. Something like openID is the services that authenticates, RSS gives you your customized news, FOAF is the api/model for your social graph, APML gives the recomendation engine ideas on what to show you, etc — and mashups pull all that into various incarnations on your iPhone.

    I think another interesting ripple effect will also be when all sorts of openData formats come online for things like auctioning items, which will of course be indexed at a place like ebay, but will break down a “walled garden” like ebay.

65. Spandana
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 10:17 am

    “And in a big change in strategy for MySpace, developers will be able to serve their own advertising within their applications, and keep 100% of the revenue (Facebook also allows this).”

    how does that play into it’s deal with google? i’d imagine google would now be competing with other ads in myspace, which probably wasn’t on the table when their deal (with a guarentees) was done.

    with the monetizability of myspace as it is, i guess google has nothing more to lose with this anyway

66. Chris
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 10:27 am

    “with the monetizability of myspace as it is, i guess google has nothing more to lose with this anyway ;-)”

    As somebody who REALLY knows social networking. I would say it’s the biggest advertising deadpool application format. Digg and social bookmarking would closely follow.

    Any type of web app where the advert is a distraction rather than a possible solution is doomed.

67. Chris
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 10:31 am

    sitespaces did horribly with google adwords. As soon as we teamed up with adultfriendfinder, we started getting clicks. It turns out that people that are too big losers to get dates on social networking sites will pay $30 a month for a chance to buy their way to sex with adultfriendfinder. Fully naked people will always get clicks if the site they are advertised on are half naked. It’s seedy, and not work safe, but it does in fact work.

68. David Libby
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 10:57 am

    It’s about time! Let the monetization of widgets begin!!!

69. Iron Spider
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 11:00 am

    Re: “good luck monetizing all these losers”

    Sheesh. Wake up and smell the keywords. Thousands of MySpace resource sites are already monetizing those “losers” and some are doing so to the tune of $70,000 per month.

    Re: “MySpace users are usually the introverted, geeky, loser, low self confidence, non mainstream, wierd types.”

    Does this refer to all the big name rock bands as well who have MySpace pages? Or are they excluded from your sweeping generalization? Also, with all this hullabaloo about the exodus from MySpace to Facebook, I guess the Facebook demographic is now also filling up with the “introverted, geeky, loser, low self confidence, non mainstream, wierd types”, eh? (*chuckle*)… Maybe Facebook should start screening applicants to make sure ex-MySpacers don’t ruin the neighbourhood…. hee hee… :o)

    As for comparing Facebook to MySpace… Apples and oranges. On Facebook you basically only connect with friends you already have. On MySpace you connect with current friends and you easily make new ones.

    As for app development on MySpace, right on. Go MySpace go. Great news!

70. Curious
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 11:09 am

    Looking for explanation of this inconsistency.

    From this post:

    “And in a big change in strategy for MySpace, developers will be able to serve their own advertising within their applications, and keep 100% of the revenue (Facebook also allows this).”

    From Facebook App developer TOS:

    “Applications that may be displayed on “user profile” pages or other pages of the Facebook Site (i.e., as opposed to pages served by a developer or other third party) may not include advertisements or paid promotional content of any kind, or any web search functionality of any kind…”

    Is MySpace going to lead frog facebook and entice developers by allowing them to potentially make real money?

71. Chris
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 11:12 am

    Re: “MySpace users are usually the introverted, geeky, loser, low self confidence, non mainstream, wierd types.”

    Tom Anderson is their king!
    http://freemyspace.com/?q=node/2
    “I am as anti-social as they come”

    Tom, Dewolfe. If you guys don’t come up here and see this, you’re going to kick yourselves next year. Call me today before 5PM EST.

72. Ianternet
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 11:39 am

    I think it has already launched since I know my myspace user admin interface is all weird and different - but I don’t care - i am a facebook fan!

73. Shane
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 12:11 pm

    LANDGRAB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

74. Peter Kazanjy
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 12:51 pm

    @21 Bob:

    Your argument rests on the current brokenness/imaturity of non-search driven advertising on the web. I know when I’m cruising around TechTarget.com, Economist.com, there are $150 CPM ads touting multi-core HP bladecenters. And the campaign managers for those advertisers aren’t stupid. They buy ad space that hits their clickthrough targets.

    Similarly, the advertising provider who can sell me a bundle of “1m impressions of ivy-league graduates who live in San Francisco” or “500k impressions of BMW” in an automated, graunular fashion (e.g., like Google keyword buys, but for humans, not keywords), will be in a strong, strong position. Oracle and Patek Phillipe do not buy the back cover of the Economist every month because they like to lose money.

    So yes, MySpace users clicks “Punch The Monkey” and “Dancing Mortgage Cowboy” ads, and that’s what wins right now. But please don’t use the current sad state of CPM targeting as a reason to dismiss the value of aggregating together a monstrous mass of high value attention.

75. steve ballmer
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 1:07 pm

    Silverlight makes all of this obsolete even before it’s launched!

    http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

76. Shane
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 1:43 pm

    well put, Pete

77. sumit gupta
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 4:32 pm

    Mike, so its apparent giants are playing catch up. And it sounds win win for developers too!!

    But will it result in app fatigue for the users? Is it too much too soon?

    comments appreciated!

78. Ryan
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 4:48 pm

    RE: “Applications will need to be hosted on MySpace servers.”

    Hah! What a disaster in the making. Who are the ad wizards who came up with that one?

79. Dan Russeldorf
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 6:11 pm

    Ryan - hosting the apps will *not* be a disaster. The disaster with facebook is that people could not handle the traffic, and app designers could change the app without facebook’s approval which leads to privacy and security concerns. Hosting the app is a wise move - it’s good for the company’s (cuts their costs and necessary tech resources), and good for the users–protects them from unscrupulous app designers.

80. Michael Bauser
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 6:51 pm

    Actually, some aspiring developers are going to see hosting applications on MySpace servers as a good thing. Some popular Facebook applications have been glitchy because the servers hosting them couldn’t keep up with Facebook-level traffic.

    Which leads us to a big question: Is MySpace really going to let any developer host code on its servers, or are will the NewsCorp lawyers limit MySpace application development to professional programming outfits? Right now, Facebook’s system is rough on the amateurs, but it at least gives them a chance to try to compete with the big boys.

    If MySpace does allow the amateurs into its application-space, MySpace-provided hosting will allow the very small developers that can’t afford their own servers to get into the application game. Whether that’s a good thing remains to be seen. We’ve all seen what nightmares the hordes of amateur designers on MySpace produce — imagine the mess that an army of MySpace-loving amateur programmers might make.

    (I am concerned though, that MySpace may see hosting application-code simply as a security measure: if so, they’ll probably skimp on the upfront security in their API. MySpace is great at misprioritizing.)

    As for “app fatigue,” I think it’ll affect programmers more than users. It’s unlikely that many programmers will want to port their applications to every social network with platforms. Most of them will probably create apps for Facebook and/or MySpace, then decide the other networks aren’t worth the effort. MySpace’s platform announcement probably hurts Linkedin and Hi5 more than it does Facebook.

81. bob cobb
    

    October 10th, 2007 at 9:14 pm

    valleywag just said that its delayed and that they are going to be announcing some new instant-messaging client. So that sucks

82. Michael Arrington
    

    October 18th, 2007 at 1:45 am

    bob - except that valleywag was dead wrong.

83. h johnson
    

    October 19th, 2007 at 5:56 am

    I think vois.com is doing the same as well