November 2nd, 2007
What Google OpenSocial really means
When I wrote yesterday about the value-add of social networking, speculating that a “tool kit” might easily replace big sites like Facebook, I had no idea I was scooping myself.
In fact, at that very moment, our own David Berlind was being briefed on Google’s OpenSocial, a set of APIs which allow social networking files to interoperate. MySpace is already signed on to it. There is already speculation that Microsoft’s $240 million Facebook investment may be wasted.
So what can I add today? Only this:
- Software and online business models are different. Even when sites are compatible in technology, they still compete for eyeballs.
- Online habits die hard, but they can change.
- The software business model is being replaced by the online advertising model.
What this means, to me, is that Microsoft has not necessarily mislaid $240 million. Even if Facebook becomes compatible with MySpace, it will still be a competitor. So will Linkedin and all the other Web 2.0 sites.
Remember how, a few months ago, I talked with IBM-Lotus’ Alan Leposky, who described businesses bringing social networking in-house and the power that could provide? Let’s review:
“The most used application in our social networking world is the directory – see their picture, pronounce their last name, learn who their manager is. It’s a killer application. If you extend that to your partners and key customers,” he said.
“One of the most important things we talk to our customers about is this isn’t just an on-switch. You don’t just buy the software and install it. You have to take a gradual approach, take a business need.
“The most common is better communication with your own customers, breaking down barriers with your own customers. Simple things like getting information about products. Right now you have an account team, you talk to them and we filter it up. With blogs and wikis and community sites, we find these to be great first steps in breaking down those barriers.”
The key word here is social, not networking. Learning to connect across the lines which divide us, and doing it skillfully, means more than the software, even more than the eyeballs.
Once we become as conversant with social networking as we are with e-mail, once we learn its netiquette and apply it, everyone benefits. Google, Microsoft, Facebook, MySpace, ZDNet, everyone. Even you.
Most especially you.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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