Socially Awkward?

No doubt there are a lot of folks who’re true believers in the OpenSocial idea, but Google’s support of the OpenSocial principles, which say that participating companies should open and align their web 2.0 services in such a way that 1) developers can write a single application that will work cross-platform and 2) users would be able to port their information from one platform to the next.

This sounds great! But it’s a pretty obvious plot for Google and smaller developers to gain access to the massive trove of users who’ve chosen to go with Facebook — a backdoor way to pressure Facebook into giving up its customer base.  Think about it: Right now, users who like Facebook for whatever reason are probably going to stick with it because applications and widgets written for it will only work with Facebook, and it’s not easy to export one’s user information. In other words, it’s pretty clear that Google’s support has little to do with principles and everything to do with social network market share.

It should also be noted that staying "closed off" is also part of Facebook’s value proposition to users.  By exerting more control over the user experience, they’ve managed to create what’s obviously (looking at their ever-expanding user base) a pretty compelling service so far. There’s nothing inherently wrong with openness, and if Google and co. can attract customers away by offering a more open, integrated web of systems, then good for them.  But there can be value in closed systems as well.