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Facebook announced this week their “next evolution of Facebook”, the Facebook platform. I have been waiting to write about this till after I was able to read all the info on this. I believe this is a HUGE step for Facebook and will be critical for the eventual domination over the likes of MySpace.
Just to quickly summarize what this Facebook platform is, it enables outside vendors, companies, etc. to build “widgets” that can be integrated into Facebook users profiles, main pages, etc. Unlike MySpace who has no formal development policy and depending on what mood they are in and whether their servers are up or not, has pulled and blocked apps for at times no apparent reason other than that they can. Facebook has built an architecture, rules and procedures for integrating with Facebook.
Let me give an example. Amazon can now build a widget very much like they have for blogs that Facebook users can list on their profile what books, music, games, etc. they are using right now. Each one of these can be linked to Amazon so users can be driven from a Facebook profile page directly to a product page within Amazon to buy.
I believe the real challenge for Facebook will be how much control are they going to give to these outside vendors and if some of these apps become successful, will they want a piece of that pie?
Either way I believe this is a huge step forward for Facebook and in the long run this among many other things Facebook is doing will spell the demise of MySpace. What do you think?
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Technorati Tags: Facebook platform, Facebook, MySpace, widgets, Amazon
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They definitely get it. The Post and Slate took part in this new evolution. Pretty cool stuff.
The question really is how MySpace will respond.
Despite my general distaste for the content in these sites, this is a very good move on Facebook’s part. Retailers will be stupid not to take advantage of it and yes, Facebook definitely needs to charge for this.
Matt - I agree, excellent move by Facebook…
Tim - I think there are numerous ways this can go and just not for retailers.
Thanks for the comments.
Nice!! Did you ever see this?? http://tinyurl.com/2mayfg
Widgets are great, especially if they have utility factor that serves the user that adds it to their Facebook profile.