List of Opensocial Resources : v2

1.Create your own OpenSocial Container : A question which is asked to me very often but with no concrete answer .. i ask to visit the below URL

URL : http://code.google.com/p/opensocial-container-sample/
Getting Started : http://code.google.com/p/opensocial-container-sample/wiki/GettingStarted

2. Orkut Developer's Guide : For people like me who are just concentrating.. to create apps which runs perfectly on ORKUT (at least for now)

URL: http://code.google.com/apis/orkut/docs/orkutdevguide.html

3. Create your OpenSocial Apps : This tutorial is from Mr. Tim Longhurst.

URL: http://www.opensocialblog.com/2007/11/06/creating-an-opensocial-application-example-1-mini-google-search/

4. Latest Update on OpenSocial API : http://opensocialapis.blogspot.com/

OpenSocial - Should you trust Google?

Last week I was in Bangalore for a WebInnovation seminar during which I asked Marc Canter (Co-founder Macromedia and CEO of Broadband Mechanics - PeopleAggregator)...

'In the last week three partners of Google's OpenSocial (Friendster, Bebo and LinkedIn) have announced their individual platforms...why so? Do they not trust Google entirely?'

Marc's reply wasn't really clear - he talked about Bebo partnering with both Facebook and Google and then took the question on a different tangent...about MySpace and how they might never open their own APIs and how they are losing the social network war against Facebook.

Anyways I came across an interview of Marc today and here are a few excerpts from it:

Why shouldn't a company go for existing social platform (say from Google when it launches such a platform) rather than building its own?

It shouldn't. Absolutely not! Today, social networking is a commodity. It is same everywhere. Most sites have standard features, personal page, login page, group page etc. However, to have a compelling online experience you need not only differ from competitors, but also offer something more compelling.

Social networking features need to be everywhere; whether as a productivity suite or as an e-commerce tool.

There is a lot of money to be made in social networking. I believe the company who embraces it in the beginning will be the leader.

How is Google's OpenSocial different from existing social networks?

Today, OpenSocial mimics Facebook. It should be called open widget. However, this is just the opening move of a chess game. This is not the end but the beginning. The beginning for Google was to identify a hole in Facebook's strategy.

Facebook was great when it opened its platform to developers in May. The site was immediately flooded with several interesting applications. However, in the end, Facebook is just another closed system. It locks in its customers. In the end, it only works when you go to them.

Unlike Facebook, OpenSocial does not have its own markup language. It allows developers to write in normal java script and html with only minor adjustments needed for the code to work on its platform. Facebook requires use of FBML (Facebook Markup Language) for security reasons, but it also makes code unusable outside Facebook. OpenSocial will especially attract small developers who can create 'learn once, write anywhere' applications.

Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are today one way. But they should be two-way. OpenSocial will be first two-way API. Watch Google, it will get APIs into Maps, RSS Reader, spreadsheets and all probable places.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Wishing all of you a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Also wishing you Happy Development on the OpenSocial platform. We've been developing a couple of apps and are waiting for the Data APIs.

I think it'll take at least a good week or 2 after Google releases the Data APIs for any really cool app to get launched.

In the meanwhile enjoy this funny Christmas viral:

Orkut - OpenSpam

Though Orkut have introduced some new tweaks via which you can make your Album and Scrapbook restricted from the public - they've just been hounded with yet another problem!

Scrapbook Spam!

Recently someone created a script that allows you to so send scraps to multiple users at one go. Here's a screenshot of my Orkut Scrapbook and notice the "To scrap all your friends at once, click here!" beneath each post.



Though this might be a convenient tool for some (senders) it's a pretty annoying tool for the others (receivers).

What's dis-heartening is that Orkut has yet to respond to this with a basic filter mechanism. These are the same Google guys who are preaching a totally SPAM free environment for OpenSocial.

But a tight regulation on Spam might effect the viral nature of some apps and only the heavy-weights (like Slide, RockYou) might benefit.