Google’s OpenSocial rolls out

It’s great to see some API competition for FaceBook Apps, in fact Google’s Open Social looks to give strong competition with the fact that it’s a shared API, meaning multiple sites will be using it, increasing distribution of the app.

What is OpenSocial?

As stated on the home page: “OpenSocial provides a common set of APIs for social applications across multiple websites. With standard JavaScript and HTML, developers can create apps that access a social network’s friends and update feeds.”

The question is just, is there something like critical mass on this kind of viral marketing? Obviously apps can be absolutely anything, from business tools to quirky viral ‘zombie bites’. It’s just important to remember how information is shared with these apps. Information that is very valuable to potential marketers, so don’t just install any app.

Facebook on the other hand has rolled out some social business tools that should keep things alive and well in Facebook land and some major players have already signed on. Companies can soon have their own Facebook profiles. Would be interesting to monitor over the next few months. I’ve been talking for almost a year about leveraging Facebook as business tool and it seems it’s the next logical step for them.

Exciting times!