Spurned Google rolls out its Facebook killer
Google’s OpenSocial system gives developers standardised tools
to build applications and embed them in many sites, eliminating the
need for small startups or even one-person shops to customise their
programs for each site.
It also has the potential to lure developers mostly allied with
Facebook by allowing their applications to find a home on many
other websites.
“This is about making the web more social, how do you have your
friends go along with you to any site on the web?” said Joe Kraus,
Google director of product management, in an interview.
Google said it had initially signed on about a dozen partners,
including social network LinkedIn for business professionals, its
own Orkut network and Friendster.
Developers who are testing the program include key companies
behind Facebook applications, such as music recommendation service
iLike and Slide, which created the “Top Friends” ranking
application.
Industry blogs have speculated for nearly a month that Google
aimed to unleash a major challenge to Facebook, whose decision to
open its site to developers in May helped it grow to more than 48
million users.
Facebook, which secured an investment from Microsoft last week
that values it at $US15 billion, is due to announce its own new
advertising strategy on November 6.
Google had also been interested in a partnership with Facebook
as it competes more closely with Microsoft for drawing web
audiences and advertisers.
Developers briefed on OpenSocial said it will help them seek the
widest distribution possible for their applications, some of which
are already used by millions of people on social networks.
“For months we’ve been approached by other websites that want us
to build iLike widgets for them and we’ve been unable to build it
for them,” said iLike Chief Executive Ali Partovi. “The benefit
OpenSocial offers us is we can essentially … syndicate what we do
to other social networks.”
