Facebook and Friendster are opening up their APIs so third party developers can create new applications. Apparently MySpace, LinkedIn, and Google are expected to do the same but haven’t made any announcements.
I see this as noteworthy for a couple of reasons.
First, it allows the ever expanding world of mashups to take on a whole new direction. I can already see a truckload of new mashup that integrate the personal information these sites store with other applications (like maps).
Second, the resulting mashups will demonstrate the power of open APIs and SOA to IT departments. Even the most crusty, cranky, old-school IT manager won’t be able to keep his head in the sand when confronted with users who can compose applications as fast as programmers.
Social-Networking Sites Open Up
Technorati Tags: enterprise2.0, mashups, enterprisemashups, web2.0
