Facebook opens platform to other social networks
Last Updated: Thursday, December 13, 2007 | 12:35 PM ET
CBC News
Online social network site Facebook has opened up its developer platform to other social networking sites, with rival site Bebo the first major rival to implement the platform.
The move comes in response to criticism that developers wouldn't create applications for Facebook because the website is too "closed" to be an effective market, and sets up a potential clash between Facebook's now open platform and OpenSocial, the open development platform initiative Google Inc. launched in November.
Facebook senior platform manager Ami Vora first posted the news in a blog entry on Wednesday.
"(We) want to share the benefits of our work by enabling other social sites to use our platform architecture as a model," he wrote.
"In fact, we'll even license the Facebook platform methods and tags to other platforms."
Facebook has been steadily growing in popularity since the site became available to all users in 2006, and now ranks as one of the most popular sites on the web. The site claims it has more than 58 million active members, more than seven million of them in Canada.
Part of what has spurred the growth was the site's decision earlier to open its platform to developers so they could create unique programs for the site, programs that allow users to share messages, quizzes, photos, or other media.
But the criticism of Facebook was that these applications only worked on Facebook. The company said it hopes the move to open its developer platform code will encourage even further adoption.
"By enabling other social sites to use what we've learned, everyone wins — users get a better experience around the web, developers get access to new audiences, and social sites get more applications," the company said in an official statement on Wednesday.
In a surprise move on Wednesday, San Francisco-based social networking site Bebo became the first to implement the Facebook platform standards. Bebo, which has more than 40 million users worldwide, said it has signed partnership deals with more than 40 application developers.
The decision to adopt the Facebook platform is an interesting one for Bebo, because the site is also committed to integrating with Google's OpenSocial in 2008. The company said it plans to be the first site to adopt both standards.
Google's OpenSocial attracted interest from a number of prominent social networking sites, including News Corp.-owned MySpace, as well as Friendster, hi5 and LinkedIn.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Canadian woman continues tweeting her way to the top of Everest
- Sandra Leduc is taking a second run at Mount Everest's summit after a deadly storm forced her back down the mountain and killed four others on Sunday. The Canadian lawyer and government worker is tweeting her progress along the way. more »
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- The federal government is shutting the Canadian consulate in Buffalo less than two years after costly renovations, while dropping a requirement for visas to be renewed outside the country, CBC News has learned. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- SpaceX capsule docked at International Space Station
- The privately bankrolled unmanned SpaceX Dragon capsule has been securely bolted to the Harmony module of the International Space Station. . more »
- Bonavista, N.L., 'coyote' was really wolf, tests confirm
- Wolves have not been seen in Newfoundland since around 1930 and were believed to have been hunted to extinction on the island, but genetic tests have confirmed that an 82-pound animal shot on the Bonavista Peninsula in March was, in fact, a wolf. more »
- Once-rare argus butterfly thriving thanks to climate change
- Global warming is threatening the existence of many species, such as the giant polar bear, but in the case of Britain's brown argus butterfly, it took a species in trouble and made it thrive. more »
- How curry spice helps the immune system kill bacteria
- A spice used in curry dishes helps to prevent infection and now scientists think they've got a lead on how. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Government to shut down unique fresh water research area May. 25, 2012 12:31 PM The Experimental Lakes Area research facility in Northern Ontario is being closed down after 44 years of providing invaluable data to scientists in Canada and internationally, a decision that has stunned researchers and environmental groups.
Quirks & Quarks
- May 26: Before the Lights Go Out May. 25, 2012 3:58 PM A new book, "Before the Lights Go Out: Conquering the Energy Crisis Before It Conquers Us", suggests that the unpredictable, unplanned, ad-hoc way our energy use developed in the past will shape our energy future.
Latest Features
- Aylmer triple stabbing leads to first-degree murder charges
- Everest victim's family asks for government help
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Canada ending 'Buffalo shuffle' for visas, closing consulate
- Conservatives move again to have robocalls suits tossed
- Workers' EI history to affect claim under new rules
- Double-lung recipient dances on Ellen show
