Friendster Announces Developer Platform; Can You Say “Commodity”?
Mark Hendrickson
27 comments »
Good thing we launched the CrunchBase widget, because you may need it to refresh your memory about a certain social networking company called Friendster that’s announcing its own developer platform today (okay okay, to be fair, they do have 50 million users and are very popular in Asia).
Friendster’s platform announcement comes five months after that of Facebook and not even a week after that of MySpace, the company that usurped Friendster a few years ago. Looks like Facebook will need to find itself another major differentiator, because developer platforms are becoming commodities just like social networks themselves.
Admittedly, it may be too early to make this prediction. We haven’t even seen either MySpace or Friendster’s offerings after all. One company may end up continually executing their platform much better than the rest. However, judging by Friendster’s description of their platform - which will be open to developers immediately but not live for users until November 30th - these platforms will probably end up looking very much alike.
Friendster will allow developers to advertise with their widgets but will not require any revenue sharing; there will be a “widget directory” much like Facebook’s application directory; widgets in Friendster will be promoted virally using a “My Network Module” akin to Facebook’s news feed; Friendster widgets will be able to access “Friendster data” (which must mean profile, or “social graph”, data); and Friendster vows to improve the platform over time in response to community feedback.
In what could amount to little more than fluff, but could also mean something more substantial, Friendster is claiming that its platform will be non-proprietary. The suggestion is that widgets developed for other platforms will be easily deployable on Friendster’s platform. Another possible differentiator: it looks as though widget creators will be allowed to display advertisements anywhere they please within their creations, and not just on canvas-like pages as in Facebook.
Friendster is calling this announcement the “third stage” of its opening up process. Apparently in August 2006 the company started letting users add HTML and Flash widgets to their profiles and in September 2007 they created “Fan Profiles” for music promoters. Thus, we arrive at the third stage. Yea, sounds like a stretch to me, too.
If you are a developer who wants to start working now in preparation for November 30th when widgets will be available to Friendster users, you can check out this online documentation.
A copycat strategy isn’t always a bad thing except when you are so far behind that nobody gives a rats ass about you anymore. Good luck Friendster–you are going to need it.
Whats significant is the efforts made to “improve” on the exisiting model, the competition will push to create new opportunities and value for the user. Developers will adopt what platforms give them the coolest ways to showcase thier ideas, marketers will lean toward models that enable market growth and business folks will jump on revenue oportuntities.
This is a sign that the landscape changes daily and we all better be ready for what’s next….
Well Facebook does have first mover advantage and will always bee seen as the first people to do it. Thats a huge advantage despite commoditization.
What Facebook has to do now is develop a brand around their platform. They need to make it even easier to do stuff. They need to be even friendlier to developers and they have to offer great support.
While everyone is going on about Facebook this gives a good opportunity for developers to make apps at MySpace etc where there is less competition.
For the time being.
I think it’s an interesting re-start but they are still catching up with the competition. Still long until they can make their way in the big league.
I dunno… I would, I think, consider myself in the big league at 50 million users. Maybe they’re not monetising quite as well as facebook, but I would say 50 million users has some potential (well, you could start your own country or something).
I doubt Freiendster have strong base of developers like facebook better they could have introduced any unique feature rather than copying someone else idea.
Facebook only has 40m odd users, so 50m is no sneeze, and MySpace has 100m + …..there seems to be a certain amount of Facebook mania going on that belies the economic facts.
I think the gist of the article is correct, developer platforms on SocNets are commoditising - and getting your widget in early (as was shown in Facebook) has major benefits.
Also, if I was a widget developer I’d want mine on F/B, MySpace, Friendster etc as (i) ite a greater reach and (ii) I can start to aggregate the service myself.
I created a social network, on ning.com, do I even have a platform there (to open up?!)
http://facebookeconomy.ning.com
I hate to beat this point ….. there is more then the American Market in the world. Because something doesn’t cross the “american snob” test it must not be good.
Take off the blinders of “what is popular in america must be the best in the world” That is a typicaly american ideal.
@# Mike Dragan - I think it’s an interesting re-start but they are still catching up with the competition. Still long until they can make their way in the big league.
Open your eyes man …..50 million users ….vs FB 40 million …..
Take the blinders off and realize that there are only 300 million people in USA …in a world that is 6 billion …..that means there are 5.7 billion non americans on the planet ….Seems like a bigger vision then being limited to the USA.
Interesting news… seems social networking sites have realized that they will suffer from a collective demise sooner then later, development platforms are another jolt to the “dime a dozen” heart but…. clear…. pzzzz….. alright, we got a pulse… but it ain’t a strong one!
Time to cash-out while you still can!
Jon
i still have many friends who are active users on friendster. by being the first kid on the block, friendster got a lot of people who didn’t want to up and move their network. those users (30+ mostly) happen to be older than facebook and myspace users, but have spent 5 years on the platform, and also have more disposable income. adding widgets means even here in the states, friendster is a player.
As widgets become more robust, useful and coveted, Facebook could begin to see pressure to open their API to cross functionality. Keeping widgets in platform silos is as bad as DRM for music. It’s just not cool and because of the rapid adoption of increasingly useful widgets by the masses, that’s going to become clear sooner than later.
This shows that the web 2.0 is getting matured day by day. When open source was started people and groups wondered, where the money will come . And you all know now what happened. The reality is that money will flow once things are opened up as usual.
http://blogkatt.blogspot.com
Facebook already has the first comer advantage. The developers have done work on facebook and trust it well.
Myspace widget companies too have gone far… (photobucket?)
Of course, everybody is still waiting for the day a widget company can really monetize.
When the 7th Stage is Complete ALL Will Be Revealed!!!
Can you say “stupidity”?
http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
live on Nov 30? I thought it is live TODAY!
go to Friendster.com to see it
Under Explore -> Widget Directory
It blows my mind at how consistently undervalued Friendster is.
what’s with the copycat talk?
Is anyone under the misapprehension that Facebook invented the Developer API??
I wonder how developers actually start using the API because I can not see a system to obtain the API key from friendster, may be, i have missed something ? I can see only documentation but no way to start implementing.
Does anyone even use friendster anymore?