Google’s Open Social – It’s All Going to Change From Here
OpenSocial is a set of three common APIs, defined by Google with input from partners, that allow developers to access core functions and information at social networks:
Profile Information (user data)
Friends Information (social graph)
Activities (things that happen, News Feed type stuff)Hosts agree to accept the API calls and return appropriate data. Google won’t try to provide universal API coverage for special use cases, instead focusing on the most common uses. Specialized functions/data can be accessed from the hosts directly via their own APIs.
While I’m sure everyone will have an insight on this topic, I think the biggest thing to note with this press release is that Google will be providing a way to standardize your social graph, user information and activities across the web. Something that has been promised so many times before but never delivered.
Google gets to sit back and be in the middle of everything. Brilliant move.