November 1, 2007

Facebook: “We Have Not Been Briefed On OpenSocial”

Michael Arrington

93 comments »

When Google was asked during the press conference earlier today if they had invited Facebook into OpenSocial, the answer was “yes,” and then changed to “we can’t comment, followed by “we have reached out to virtually everyone in this space” (quotes are rough, I was taking notes but not recording). Whichever one is the correct answer, the clear indication was that Google was reaching out to Facebook to join the club.

Facebook, however, says they haven’t had the pleasure. When we asked them if they were planning on joining, Brandee Barker, Director of corporate communications at Facebook, responded:

Despite reports, Facebook has still not been briefed on OpenSocial. When we have had a chance to understand the technology, then Facebook will evaluate participation relative to the benefits to its 50 million users and 100,000 platform developers.

My bet is that they join. Because suddenly Facebook is being painted as the closed outsider while everyone else is allowing the use of non proprietary coding platforms (Facebook requires the use of FBML, not HTML) and portability of applications.

How did they turn into the bad guys so quickly? As Erick says, it’s their move. But no matter what they do, Google has pulled off an absolute coup.

For their part, Google will certainly want Facebook’s participation. But they had to get everyone else on board first, before Facebook would even consider it. An open platform means no social network has any advantage over any other when it comes to third party applications. The playing field has been evened, and no one wins. Except Google. They always win.

Update: From a trusted source:

People in the know have indicated to me that Facebook and Google have been talking about OpenSocial…including today. So pleading ignorance won’t last as a strategy for dealing with the OpenSocial movement.

Dan Farber is also reporting this.

CrunchBase Information

Facebook

Information provided by CrunchBase

Sphere It

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 1st, 2007 at 4:35 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Trackbacks/Pings (Trackback URL)

November 1st, 2007 at 7:51 pm

Boldly Going

November 1st, 2007 at 10:33 pm

a la 360

November 2nd, 2007 at 12:00 am

Kirill Bolgarov's blog

November 2nd, 2007 at 6:56 am

Things That ... Make You Go Hmm

November 2nd, 2007 at 7:56 am

Profy.Com

November 2nd, 2007 at 10:05 am

» Google wird mit OpenSocial das Web revolutionieren, oder? » Stefan Hess

November 4th, 2007 at 12:38 pm

» Back Online and updating, web 2.0 & Open Social benjaminlim.net:

November 4th, 2007 at 12:50 pm

» Comment on Facebook: “We Have Not Been Briefed On OpenSocial” by …

November 4th, 2007 at 1:16 pm

Internet Marketing & Web Design » Blog Archive » Facebook: “We Have Not Been Briefed On OpenSocial”

November 4th, 2007 at 5:11 pm

Is OpenSocial anti-social? at OpenSocial App List .com

November 5th, 2007 at 11:09 pm

iMac Blog » Blog Archive » Facebook Claims to be Out of the OpenSocial Loop

November 9th, 2007 at 6:06 am

10 Reasons why Facebook is so popular « Tech Merkin

November 16th, 2007 at 12:13 pm

Comments

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Aziz

November 1st, 2007 at 4:40 pm

I can see tremendous benefit for fb joining this war .. I would love to see a social ads platform from fb and now that would be a checkmate for goog. .
Aziz

November 1st, 2007 at 4:41 pm

opps .. a typo .. I wanted to say joining open social .
Garth

November 1st, 2007 at 4:46 pm

Facebook allows developers to use HTML. FBML is optional and is mostly there for the sake of convenience.

This was previously pointed out in the comments for another writeup which made the same error.
Too much press

November 1st, 2007 at 4:46 pm

Yeap… My dreams come true.

Too much press like this. It’s going to make Facebook & Google angry.
The Hater

November 1st, 2007 at 4:46 pm

The only long-term winners are those who provide infrastructure. If you think Google will have market cap anywhere near it does now, you are sadly dreaming. We’re just a few Federal announcements from Webvan, part 2.
Alaska Miller

November 1st, 2007 at 4:47 pm

Everything’s coming up Milhouse.
The Hater

November 1st, 2007 at 4:47 pm

Oh, wait, no. I forgot; Google is gold. Apple too. It’s all one big lovefest.

GOOGLE RULES FOREVER! THEY ARE SO SMART AND CAN DO NO WRONG!
Hustled by NING

November 1st, 2007 at 4:50 pm

Why is it that Google Always Wins ?

I would work for free for these guys just to understand their talents as strategists
Roman

November 1st, 2007 at 4:53 pm

The equation is:

(Facebook + Microsoft) - Google = Slow demise? Definitely a negative number at the least.
Marcos

November 1st, 2007 at 4:54 pm

“The playing field has been evened, and no one wins. Except Google. They always win.”

Great quote Michael!
Google traps

November 1st, 2007 at 4:55 pm

Did you know Google got lot of enemies?

Viacom, Microsoft, Facebook, Powerset, etc…
Jimbo

November 1st, 2007 at 4:55 pm

we know that brandee probably has the best intentions but I think she has to realize that facebook users - their 50m users- are going to probably use both/all. I take offense to her assumption that she will decide if WE (the users) will particiapte. Facebook is rather smug and even when their PR person acts like it- maybe they should realize that they’ve just been slapped.

I’d love it if one of you top bloggers dared all the social networking sites to allow users to delete their accounts.

I think we are all about to realize the true value of facebook.
Slappenstance

November 1st, 2007 at 4:57 pm

Knowing Google, they’ll start bullying people once everyone gets on board opensocial like they do with adsense and their search engine.

I also don’t like how they give established players an early lead. Leaves the rest of us peons even further behind.
Yelp Sucks

November 1st, 2007 at 4:57 pm

oh they’ll “join” just to keep competitive tabs… the internet is littered with failed initiatives. with so many cooks in this pot… this one is bound to fail. and who is going to trust google to mind the kitty. no one. it’s all spin… but they got techcrunch to blog about a freakin million times. somebody’s earning their retainer.
Maybe mike will get punch

November 1st, 2007 at 5:03 pm

Deja Vu…

Four years ago. I predict this shit. Mike going to get punch in face. Press will see his nosebleed. It was all camera flash.

I have no idea who punch mike face. I can’t see the future yet.
Why do you have write this press?

Undo it or delete it.
David Mackey

November 1st, 2007 at 5:04 pm

Way to go Google. Here’s to Facebook joining in the near future.
Berlin

November 1st, 2007 at 5:05 pm

@ #3

If FBML is optional, how come no one has mentioned it? Not TC or Andreesen.
Poney Boy

November 1st, 2007 at 5:06 pm

Google pulled the ultimate competitive chess move - i agree with you and seeing the video of Eric and Chris from Scoble shows they are confident. Facebook is a bunch of rookies…

Mike: hears a headline for you; Facebook: Deer in the headlights.
Gaurav Kanoongo

November 1st, 2007 at 5:09 pm

I just want to see how long Facebook will take to end the first world war of social networks: Facebook vs. All Others.
A

November 1st, 2007 at 5:12 pm

With the FB platform, it is not possible to place generic HTML/Javascript in the profile window (only a subset of FBML is allowed). This is why, for example, it is currently impossible to implement a hit counter for a FB profile. With OpenSocial, this (and many other things) will be possible.
LOL

November 1st, 2007 at 5:13 pm

Facebook got Google engineers and guys profile account. hehehhe
Corvida

November 1st, 2007 at 5:14 pm

Google just pulled one hell of a coup and all I can do is laugh. Smart move Google, very smart indeed! lol

I think Facebook may have enough power to not join though and I don’t think it’ll be as detrimental as some think, if they decide not to join. I’m still using Facebook regardless.
anon

November 1st, 2007 at 5:16 pm

From facebook.com: “Facebook Markup Language (FBML) is an evolved subset of HTML with some elements removed, and others which have been added that are specific to Facebook.”

So they took out some unsafe tags and added some Facebook-specific tags. No problem there.
Steve Ballmer

November 1st, 2007 at 5:20 pm

All of the answers are true! What is you guys problem?

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
jwc

November 1st, 2007 at 5:21 pm

So it’s Thursday, Mikes been on the conference call - where is this OpenSocial thing? Can I use it yet? Can I integrate it into my own social network software (or is it not really “open”?).
carhug

November 1st, 2007 at 5:22 pm

Facebook is claiming to have 50M (60% of which are non-u.s.based). what is the real number? Or is it what most are stating between 30 M or 40M? i’d like to know an accurate number. 30M=12Million U.S. users, if the new FB number is claiming 50M then that means 20M U.S. users.

What is MySpace’s claim versus actual also?
Alex

November 1st, 2007 at 5:22 pm

Great coverage!

side note:
Michael Arrington said:……”quotes are rough, I was taking notes but not recording)”

This was awesome. Spoken like a true lawyer:)
Johnny

November 1st, 2007 at 5:30 pm

Numbers Shmumbers…. They are worth 15 bill………
And as if Google is going to invite them in on Open Source
Dennis Howlett

November 1st, 2007 at 5:56 pm

Listening to the press conference recording, it was a shambles with little attempt at organization. Mike’s right, it was a very confusing answer. Now that the love fest is over there are huge hurdles to overcome and almost nothing on time frames for deliverables.
Garth

November 1st, 2007 at 5:57 pm

@17 & 20

I can’t speculate as to why various people don’t display a deep understanding of Facebook development. The fact remains that developers have 2 main options regarding how they develop a Facebook app:

1. Develop an FBML-based app, which restricts content to Facebook-allowed code (FBML which is parsed by Facebook’s servers).

or

2. An iframe based app, over which Facebook has no control. In this case, anything goes.

It is true that for the profile box a developer must use FBML, but the profile box is a tiny part of most apps, and is usually non-interactive.

However, regardless of whether or not HTML is allowed, the fact remains that the Facebook world remains somewhat “closed.” In my mind this is because Facebook is putting a huge amount of effort into keeping the user experience clean and consistent. So far I think they have been doing a good job of striking a balance between freedom and consistency, but only time will tell if the strategy is successful.
Duncan Riley

November 1st, 2007 at 5:59 pm

I still cant get over how quickly this has happened. Open doors have been talked about for a long time, but now in the space of days everyones joining up. Erick did have a point though: FB still holds the consumers imagination but certainly if we start seeing improved platform offerings this could flip nearly as quickly as FB grew.
Patrick

November 1st, 2007 at 6:05 pm

Speculating on Facebook’s next move Nov 6th in NY… could Facebook do any better than to launch SocialAds (social advertising network to Google’s search advertising network) AND announce that SocialAds (but not Facebook.com) would support OpenSocial. Wouldn’t that put them in position to reap the benefits of OpenSocial without giving up the benefits of their closed Platform?
Andrew

November 1st, 2007 at 6:11 pm

only to developers on techcrunch is this a “OMG OMG PWNED” move…to a regular joe who uses facebook they don’t really care that other sites are getting this stuff.
Steve

November 1st, 2007 at 6:11 pm

I couldn’t agree more. Google wins. The other social networks win less. The end users win. Who loses? The developers. It’ll almost be like winning the lottery on a much grander scale (Facebook vs. OpenSocial). All this free development from starved developers for these social networks.
Jesse

November 1st, 2007 at 6:16 pm

Google laid the hammer down by announcing OpenSocial. For those out there that thought that Facebook was the next big thing and would lead to Google’s eventual downfall, think again. Google has done it again by strategically abstracting themselves from the social network wars:
http://fishtrain.com/2007/11/0.....ification/
Brock

November 1st, 2007 at 6:23 pm

Patrick@32: There are NO benefits to a closed network that outweigh the costs. Just ask AOL.

Facebook does not derive its value from being a platform. It derives its value from being a Network, and a Network’s value grow geometrically with the size of the network.

OpenSocial now has a network twice the size of Facebook, which means it’s an order of magnitude more valuable. From here on out (as long as Facebook is closed) every social network user has to weigh the benefit of investing X units of time on Facebook for Y value, or the same time on OpenSocial for Y^2 value. It’s a no brainer to go with Open Social.
ChandraB

November 1st, 2007 at 6:30 pm

Google wins this round. Lets see how Facebook responds.
I wonder what sort of widgets we will see and how they compare to the current ones on Facebook. So far I am not impressed with the ones on FB.
Bob Loblaw

November 1st, 2007 at 6:30 pm

So what does this mean for the average user? I go to MySpace and still see a clusterfuck of ads and useless info in the profiles.

You can have the biggest social network in the world but if it’s not clean, and easy to navigate, like Facebook, I won’t use it.
Sipboy

November 1st, 2007 at 6:33 pm

Hopefully the OpenSocial platform will give the users an opportunity to gain some financial benefit for all the work we do. I think FB should join in for the best interest of its users. Besides, who are they for, the users or themselves? Makes me think they want to close everyone out so they can harp all the profits. Hmmmm……..
http://www.myciti.us
Amit

November 1st, 2007 at 6:35 pm

#28

The $15 mill valuation seems a bit premature now doesn’t it? This is a lot to chew for FB. Their first real-life obstacle. How they respond to it will either make people squirm in their seats or realize FB’s long-term potential and value.
Am I missing something?

November 1st, 2007 at 6:36 pm

Id like to know exactly how Open Social can be considered open, particularly if it is owned by one company?

I mean, its not open like DNS or HTTP or TCP is it?

This is EXACTLY the same strategy as MS giving away DOS for ‘free’.

Once applications have plugged into your operating system, whether it is based on a kernel or a web-stack, you have them by the balls.

Wake up GOOG fanboys. Now one company is the social-switch between all web-apps and sees all.
Bob Loblaw

November 1st, 2007 at 6:41 pm

Amit, how is this a real life obstacle? At this point OpenSocial hasn’t proven itself yet, there is nothing real life about it.

Most of the people advocating OpenSocial have no idea why FB is so great, profiles aren’t covered in random apps & spam (yet).
Srini Kumar

November 1st, 2007 at 6:46 pm

Facebook must not and never should move as a direct result of Google’s activities. Such cowardice would send a shoddy signal to the market, despite the trumpeting of Openness or whatever. There is plenty of room in the development cycle at this point for two platforms, and now it seems that there will be no more to challenge these two titans.

Facebook has absolutely nothing to fear, even from a coalition such as OpenSocial. Widget developers are the big winners as now there is no need to learn a hundred separate API’s to get published everywhere (other than Facebook that is). But Facebook has not to date been the kind of company that gets bullied by Google or anyone else, and they should do everything in their power to shrug their shoulders and say “whatever” to this announcement, at least for the short term.

I actually think the ILLUSION of openness - hey come develop on our proprietary platform - is a competitive advantage Facebook has created. Those thirty-to-fifty-million kids aren’t going anywhere soon, not to mention the growth (esp. international). Facebook gets its own family of 100,000 developers, all adding value in a very Facebook-specific way to the Facebook platform. Now they don’t actually HAVE to open up - they are “open enough”. If they manage to put a “screw you google” PR spin on it, they may even manage to spur some of that old fierce user loyalty they used to have back when they were “cool”.

Facebook knows its users, and its userbase is large enough to pull any widgetmaker to comply with Facebook along with OpenSocial. This gives Facebook power, more than say Steve Jobs has over software developers, and could it perhaps be that Facebook has far larger plans for its platform than merely “making it open”? Facebook should simply smile to itself and consider how well its strategy is working. Basically, OpenSocial is a boon to widget developers, and it would appear that a major reason for its existence is the power of the Facebook platform model. We owe Facebook one, and we aren’t going to leave those users who are making us feel so cool behind. And they aren’t on Bebo or anywhere else - those users who we love are on Facebook.

100,000 widget developers is one hell of a head start, and maintaining their prime spot in the attention of these developers - regardless of whether they code to OpenSocial as well - is their winning strategy. They can only maintain this positioning through being distinct. The only way they lose is if GOOGLE THEMSELVES comes up with the must-have widget of the millenium, and they refuse to make it compatible with the Facebook platform. My guess is that they’d have to do something crazy cool to achieve this, some kind of new phenomenon in widgetry, and then someone else would clone it for the Facebook platform anyway.

Having a large market share is one thing, having a SOPHISTICATED market share is quite another. Facebook’s userbase is very innovative, open, and demanding of true niftyness. This is another competitive advantage - it isn’t just numbers, it’s quality, and Chris DeWolfe knows it.

-s
Hashim Warren

November 1st, 2007 at 6:50 pm

OpenSocial gives Facebook even more reason NOT to be open. It’s better for Facebook to be the “other choice” for developers, rather than one of dozens of choices.
Srini Kumar

November 1st, 2007 at 6:59 pm

Whoops sorry - forgot that the social networks, their users, and future platforms for social networking are winners too. Go Google! Google did a very cool thing, it would just be bad strategy for Facebook to open up its widget platform. To wit: since it is easy to convert a Facebook widget into an OpenSocial widget, but not necessarily vice versa, we are going to create our Facebook widget FIRST, and then port it to OpenSocial. This will be the way future widget developers will think, and Facebook should not give this primacy up.
POKI

November 1st, 2007 at 7:00 pm

Amit, how is this a real life obstacle? At this point OpenSocial hasn’t proven itself yet, there is nothing real life about it.

Most of the people advocating OpenSocial have no idea why FB is so great, profiles aren’t covered in random apps & spam (yet).
The Foo

November 1st, 2007 at 7:01 pm

what a move by google — they somehow always seem to play their cards right. i don’t think FB saw this coming as it happened so fast. FB’s arrogance may cost them a little as they may still be basking in the 200 million investment from MSFT.

FB probably is going to be “forced” to join or risk being outcast regardless of how big a market share they have in developers. I don’t buy the ignorance too as i believe they are much smarter than that.

like i said in one of the other blog posts today, it’s scary but we are so scared of being left behind that we are almost forced to follow google’s activities. no matter what anyone says — it is google’s world right now.
Joey Tyson

November 1st, 2007 at 7:19 pm

Pleading ignorance? There’s still a lot of ignorance about OpenSocial all around.
Mr T

November 1st, 2007 at 7:31 pm

I fail to see how Google comes out on top of this if FB stays out of the OpenSocial network.

There’s going to be a movie titled “Dumbest Guys in the Room” if Facebook joins this initiative and becomes just another social network.

After all, the 100,00 developers that have pledged their efforts at FB are their competitive advantage. Why give that away????
buster

November 1st, 2007 at 7:57 pm

this post was moving. like watching hoosiers, or rudy, or breaking away?
James

November 1st, 2007 at 7:57 pm

Nope sorry.

I might have missed something admittedly, but I haven’t seen Google’s plan for a real monetization. Without that Google doesn’t reign. Google just launched yet another product as a side note to their massive but tenuous search business and their struggling efforts into display.
Mark Mayhew

November 1st, 2007 at 7:58 pm

as a Facebook user, I say FB should join the damn Opensocial movement. Am I missing a reason why they wouldn’t?!
Chad

November 1st, 2007 at 8:13 pm

My bet is Google proposed it to Facebook as a contingency to the recent ad deal. Facebook declined and Google stepped back, letting Microsoft have the ad deal. This is Google’s next move, and it looks like checkmate.
dale

November 1st, 2007 at 8:18 pm

Google should stop trying to run the web with there crab. Go back to searches!! We don’t a monopoly google and your name every where’s.
yasam

November 1st, 2007 at 9:00 pm

very Good article infact you will get some more technical stuff from http://lapnol.blogspot.com
James D Kirk

November 1st, 2007 at 10:00 pm

Ha! I think this is my question. Scoble sent a tweet asking if “we” had any questions for him to ask at the press conference. http://twitter.com/jameskirk/statuses/381390932 was my reply.

Not sure if he actually asked the question or someone else, but still, talk about wagging the dog!
Fabian Schonholz

November 1st, 2007 at 10:29 pm

You gotta love Google for a move like this. Well done. Now we need to see if it sticks. Coalitions are not easy to manage.
exapted

November 1st, 2007 at 10:29 pm

Forgive the OT reply. What Google needs to do is roll out some privacy standards in OpenSocial and apply them to Orkut. Orkut’s privacy features are anything but.
James D Kirk

November 1st, 2007 at 10:41 pm

I guess it was my question after all!

http://twitter.com/Scobleizer/statuses/381396822
Alex

November 1st, 2007 at 10:45 pm

@43 - Dude this is a blog. You wrote 6 freakin’ paragraphs. After two I got ADD.

….and you are in denial.
TanNg

November 1st, 2007 at 11:44 pm

Who care about group of looters leading by Google? Why not open search engine, open Gmail account, open Google reader content, but open where you lost.

Google show their weakness there, when you are strong you set standard, when you are weak you crying for standards.
grdnmtty

November 2nd, 2007 at 12:55 am

Good comment Alex!

Facebook has no excuse. Go to http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial when it’s live soon, and implement the APIs. Bang, done deal. If they don’t they are dead.

I agree with a lot of others here however, GOOG must open up the standard definition to all, they can’t own it beyond v1.0. They have been able to capture mindshare of the market and kick start a standard across many key players (if not the key player with myspace) in the industry. Most standards take years to be defined, usually because of the committee process.

And for the others. This isn’t a platform play. This is an API, a protocol, that’s been defined to give GOOG a chance to capture some value but also gives the whole industry a chance to create a significant amount of value for many other players.
42mb.com

November 2nd, 2007 at 12:58 am

Facebook is white paper for many of us, I like the concept and the features they are heading towards.
Voice Of Reason

November 2nd, 2007 at 1:05 am

This is all IDIOTIC.

Faceback should NOT join this OpenSocial garbage. OpenSocial is Google’s way of saying, “Hey, we lost the social networking game… so let’s try and get all of our competitors to hold hands and play in our sandbox.”

*** BREAKING NEWS ***

When are we going to see the OpenSearchEngine initiative?

You know, the one where Google opens up and let’s developers use their database along with Ask.com’s, MSN, Yahoo’s, and others?

ANSWER: We won’t. It’s called a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE for a reason.

When are we going to see the OpenAuction initiative?

You know, the one where eBay opens up their entire database (not just an API like they have now) that allows others to build auction sites? So Amazon, Yahoo Auctions, and others can all join the same system?

ANSWER: We won’t. It’s called a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE for a reason.

This is all IDIOTIC. Facebook needs to tell Google to GO FLY A KITE.

Developers will go where the MONEY is. Facebook stands to make more money by remaining a CLOSED network that more people use.

I find it so funny that so many people are missing the boat with this OpenSocial crap.
Steve Ballmer

November 2nd, 2007 at 5:31 am

Gaggle!
We will bury you and burn the rotting corpse to roast marshmellow!

I love being CEO!

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Amit

November 2nd, 2007 at 6:46 am

#42, #46

This is indeed an obstacle because Facebook is faced with a choice to join or stay walled off. I’m sure profiles will be included as well in this network because people hate creating the same profile for each and every application. It’s just a matter of time. Open Social really has to prove itself? First off, it’s based on good ole HTML and Javascript, not some proprietary FBML. Therefore there’s less barrier to entry. Although I don’t like the fact that one company is essentially the gate keeper, it does commoditize the development of cross-application widgets. It doesn’t have to prove itself, it’s been done before in different industries. It just makes sense. FB could use this network for their SocialAds as has been discussed and still be walled off. But, I don’t see how that will be attractive to developers who can get a one-to-many relationship with OpenSocial as opposed to the one-to-one with FB.
venki

November 2nd, 2007 at 7:08 am

Did facebook chose its own demise by joining hands with microsoft.? Is this a fight of Good (Google and the rest) vs Evil (microsoft & facebook)?
Is this year of Rise and fall of Facebook?
Boy, I’m glad finally facebook hype is seeing reality.
Steve Ballmer

November 2nd, 2007 at 8:45 am

#67
If that is true, at least I only spent 256 million. lol

btw:
I love my kids! Do you? Let me put that another way, do you let them use Macs?
I once had a grounds keeper for the Northeast lawn, I gave hinm a 3400 sqft house, 58k salary, truck and performance bonuses. I went there one evening to complain about a dandylion I found near the heliport. When I walked in I discovered he and his family had four 24″ iMacs in the place! I called the department of social services which took the kids to foster homes, I fired him and had him deported and made his wife a maid in the south-west wing!
Now you tell me if having a Mac is good for your children!

http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com
Kirill Bolgarov

November 2nd, 2007 at 8:57 am

@64
Finally a comment worth reading Though could be less passionate

C’mon guys, we’re all not dumm here, so why do you think that Zuckerberg is dumm? I believe he’s not, and he won’t just go and ruin his (yes, yes) competitive advantage. Or even if he does - he’s gopt investors who wouldn’t like him to
Kirill Bolgarov

November 2nd, 2007 at 9:02 am

@68 Steve, tell us - how you and Mark are going to beat the Googang?
Yelp Sucks

November 2nd, 2007 at 9:49 am

@64 you’re right on. open social is a sign of desperation by google. they got locked out of facebook. ya think if google had an exclusive investment in facebook they’d be doing this? there’s the answer.

google has nothing to lose so this is their hail mary (4 th quarter, time running out, only 30 seconds to play)

yeah I think that’s brilliant. Google should open up it’s search engine api and let widget developers in. The Open Search initiative. when are we going to see that?

this open social initiative has got so much “spin” it’s ridiculous. crap like this never works. and with so many cooks in the pot and google minding the kitty, no one is going to trust anyone.

Hey Michael, you should have a “what ever happened to” feature on this blog. This is going to be right up there in a year.
Aadaam

November 2nd, 2007 at 10:19 am

Facebook DOES support iframe-based gadgets, and had it supported them from the beginning.

I read this at least second time on techcrunch…

Would you PLEASE click on the create new application button BEFORE broadcasting false statements?
David Armstrong

November 2nd, 2007 at 10:21 am

This makes companies that have a service with an API already….even more valuable. Company API trying to attract developers to program many different apps = difficult. Company API + Open Social = game changing event.
Jamie Murray Wells

November 2nd, 2007 at 1:50 pm

what none of you understand is that this is about the social NETWORK - take ebay, ebay did not become basically a monopoly because of proprietary technology or interesting and open APIs or anything else they secured their future because of the strength of their NETWORK. Facebook has probably the strongest networks of our time and that will not be undermined by a handful of impressive partnerships.
Mojo

November 2nd, 2007 at 1:59 pm

It’s just business.

Do you expect Coke to contact Pepsi before they come out with the new Coke Zero?
Zach

November 2nd, 2007 at 5:21 pm

Great Post Michael!
Josh

November 3rd, 2007 at 5:23 pm

lol @ fbml
Lawrence Goldstein

November 6th, 2007 at 1:36 pm

Checkmate! Game over. Facebook is toast! Why? Because if Facebook joins Google’s OpenSocial they would be admitting defeat and become just another sheep in Google’s herd but if they don’t join they will die a slow and painful death. Why?Because Google is offering to host the apps that developers create on it’s platform which means developers don’t have to pay for hosting fees or bandwidth. Many apps that became popular on Facebook caused their owners more money to maintain due to increased bandwidth than they were making from ads. As a result few saw any real profits.This addresses that problem. I can’t help but wonder what the executives who defected from Goggle to Facebook when Facebook was the flavor of the week are thinking now. Probably something like…oh s___!what have I done! Make no mistake this is a killer app. Advertisers only care about the bottom line and who can deliver it best. Thousands of websites using the same common API(not a day will go by from this day forward without a major website announcing they’re joining Googles/Myspace OpenSocial)or one website,Facebook using a variation of HTML that’s not compatible with anything. Myspace and Google together is a unbeatable one two punch. Besides, Facebook is still on a learning curve as can be seen by how they are constantly changing their developers documentation and rules for conducting business on the platform not to mention apps disappearing into thin air. Google/Myspace is the gold standard and will implement OpenSocial much more smoothly. Google/Myspace was in the widget game way before Facebook opened up to developers only six months ago. Facebook is a walled garden and it indiscriminately picks and chooses which apps get high visibility while it tweaks it’s platform to keep other apps from succeeding. Also they deny apps submission into their directory on a whim thus a large underground subset of apps some of which are very popular will migrate from Facebook where they were denied entry for no apparent reason over to Google/Myspace. Facebook belongs to a bunch of nouveau riche wannabe stuck-up spoiled brats who thought they had the world on a string. Now they must eat humble pie and bow down and kiss the ring that is Google/Myspace. Oh well,so much for Facebooks 15 billion dollar valuation. They’ll be lucky if they can get 1 billion now. Facebook got greedy and as a result didn’t cash out when the opportunity presented itself. Why develop on Facebook which claims to have 50 million members when you can develop on Google’s/Myspace platform which has 200 million members…do the math. Stick a fork in it! Facebook is toast!
av

November 8th, 2007 at 5:20 pm

http://www.nirot.co.il
מיתוג ,קידום מכירות , צביעה, צביעה תעשייתית, עבודות צבע, צבעים, צבעי
aika

November 12th, 2007 at 6:13 pm

good post! well, that’s how business works! ^_^