Google OpenSocial Launches Today, Hallelujah!

Google.com LogoBy StrangeWork.com: Google has announced a new project they are launching today called OpenSocial. OpenSocial is a set of three common APIs for building custom applications across multiple social networks. The three core functions and information will consist of:

  • Profile Information (user data)
  • Friends Information (social graph)
  • Activities (things that happen, News Feed type stuff)

At launch the participating social networks include Orkut, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Ning, Hi5, Plaxo, Friendster, Viadeo and Oracle. Obviously missing from this list is Facebook, Myspace, and Bebo. We can only hope that with the success OpenSocial is likely to see these networks will join in.

This is great news for us developers out there having trouble keeping up with the speed at which sites are releasing open APIs to interact with. Another huge benefit of a single site to manage all custom applications is OpenSocial does not have its own markup language. Developers can use normal javascript, html, and embedded flash elements.

Expect a more detailed write-up once I’ve had a chance to create some applications using OpenSocial.

You can access OpenSocial later today at:
http://code.google.com/apis/opensocial