There’s a war raging on out there and I ain’t talking ’bout Pakistan, Palestine, Iraq or Darfur. I’m talking ’bout the war over openness - open platforms and access to end-user’s data and social graphs.

Its a war over money, Ads and Widgets. New eco-systems which breed VCs, greed and acquisitions. Little companies are getting bought, VC funds are getting setup and its all over this silly notion of ‘monetizing‘ people.

This war has escalated to an outright hype blitz - with Google aligning social networks on their side - to counteract the ever expanding Facebook-o-sphere. Which is more valuable - who’s gonna make all the money? That’s all anybody ever talks about.

How come no one is covering this from a “what do the user’s want” perspective?

Its now been over a week since this blitz has escalated to a new level and I think its fair to make some assumptions and statements about where we’re all at - right now.

1. I’m gonna start off this rant using Dare Obasanjo’s intelligent post on OpenSocial and the state of OpenID + oAuth. Dare is the man - as he concisely and articulately lays out the issues surrounding us today. Why can’t folks clearly see that all these burgeoning standards can effectively cross-vendor boundaries, unite disparate forces and NOT be controlled by one vendor? Isn’t that what the web is supposed to be? Do we need someone from Microsoft to tell us that?

2. When you take it from Dare’s approach, you quickly see that OpenSocial is a good thing - as Google can’t control the actual API. Of course Orkut and iGoogle will benefit - but so will lots of other folks as well. This is not to say that OpenSocial is everything we need - but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

3. Dare’s also right - Facebook should (and probably will) buy iLike or Flixter. And he’s right that the value in these Facebook app developer’s databases is incredibly valuable once Facebook starts redefining advertising. Google’s model was hot 3-4 years ago - but Facebook is the shit - right now. OK so score one for Facebook and the developers it helps.

4. Mark Cuban has an interesting post - where he logically deduces the value of having access to the Facebook APIs outside of Facebook. Mark knows that this is the key battlefield - exactly what Facebook would never do - that final 2% of the way that all of Facebook’s 98% won’t negate. As long as they wrap folks up inside their walls - they’re still a closed platform.

5. Now lets look at MySpace and their hyper-targeted advertising. As the Hollywood writer’s strike further chasms the old guard approach to copyright and traditional media - you don’t have to look far to find Rupert Murdoch’s vision of a cross-media play - connecting local TV affiliates, satellite TV, newspapers and global brands - to the shoulders of Mr. DeWolfe et al. MySpace’s hyer-targeted advertising DOUBLES click throughs - people. The game is afoot! But I’m just not convinced that just cause MySpace is supporting OpenSocial - that they’ll actually open up. I bet they think of OpenSocial is an easy way to attract more widgets to add to their ‘widget gallery’.

6. Next comes a joyous chorus of pundits, analysts and vendors who have decided that being open is now acceptable and have all lined up with some sort of opinion on OpenSocial, sprouting off tutorials on how to set up Facebook Ads and/or what it has to do with them and of course the ever present - privacy’ issue. Ning’s Marc’s Andreessem has created a bevy of cheerleading posts - declaring that they’ll be a new universe of social applications all over the web. One thing they all got right - open’s day has come. But I don’t think any of them have an overall perspective on just HOW the apple cart is gonna get upset. Exactly how. Which exact standards and when?

7. We’re all still waiting for Yahoo to officially announce what their open gambit is, but having two different social networks should give you some idea.

8. Microsoft probably doesn’t even realize they’re a player in all - despite Dare’s best intentions. I wonder how many of them understood Ray Ozzie’s ‘Live Clipboard’ vision? And the other major players - like AOL, IAC and Apple - seem at best to be followers in this chess game.

9. Then we have the smaller powerhouses - Technorati (gone), SixApart (priming for IPO), LinkedIn (IPO as well) and NetVibes (keeps on keeping on.) With each new platform, open set of APIs, exchange formats and protocols - we get closer to a reality where there are MULTIPLE ways to mesh inter-connected social networks and blogging platforms together. Microcontent is different than people. Groups and Conversation aggregators are inevitable. media is something really special - and highly charged. The ideal state of DLAs (digital lifestyle aggregators) wraps all these notions together - but until the code is working - it’s all still a dream (and hope.)

10. So that leaves Google versus Facebook. Ads versus Widgets, arrogant upmanship versus spunky attitude and pride. Facebook’s Ads further lock users tight inside the Facebook drum, while Google’s OpenSocial announcements lasted only long enough to put some FUD on Facebook’s SocialAds - while preparing for the Android announcement. What’s next week - acquiring AOL? Somewhere in there we have to have a solution that helps us out - not further escalating the battles between Ads and Widgets.

None of these standards or platforms is enough.

We need to unite many of these notions together into some sort of ‘meta-standard’ of standards. A Cuisinart of openness.

The one simple solution is YES - we LOVE all these open standards and platform but NO we’re not gonna take sides!

We love ALL sorts of openness and expansion of the known universe from the existing status quo of Web 1.0 and bricks and mortar business as usual. This also applies to politics, sexuality and legalized marijuana - but I’ll keep my scope more limited to the matters at hand “which standards do we support - moving forward?”

David Recordan says it right in his recent presentation on Open Platforms at the Web 2.0 Expo in Berlin. “Open Platforms shouldn’t be about big company political battles”. David also has a great line in here - which says “Publish, don’t just aggregate”. This kid is as SMART as a cookie, and as cute as a dumpling - I may add!

OpenID and oAuth are primed and ready for deployment - that’s for sure! And with the extensions for PAPE (provider assertion policy extension) and the Attribute Exchange - this thing is getting pretty powerful everyday!

OpenSocial is a great start - I just wish they’d call it OpenWidgets as that’s really all it does right now. Don’t get me wrong - I love widgets - but I also love what NetVibes and Clearspring are doing - as well. Lets just assume we’ll superset ALL this stuff into one grand meta-widgets widgetization widget.

Coming up with the Nirvana perfect developer platform ain’t gonna happen - but at least we can have our ideals as to what it SHOULD be! This is the trick of this chess game. How do you keep your wits about you, in the midst of chaos and opportunity - while still keeping your eye on the prize?

Just keep chanting “what does the user want, what would YOU want!” Fuck the vendors - they need to keep US happy, its not our job to keep them fat!

Everyone loves Facebook’s News Feed - but many forget what an uproar it caused when it was originally announced. Now SixApart has the Relationship Update Stream - which more or less offers a public, open News Feed - is available for us all to build on.

There is already something out there called OpenAds - so anyone can have their own ad network. Facebook ads has changed the game - again! Yah gotta love a company that keeps upping the ante, pushing forward, trying out new things - they’re too yung to know their limits. They’ve actually transcended this whole widget platform/open conversation with “hey - lets redefine advertising!”

When I saw those photos of Mark Zuckerberg on stage explaining all this - I felt really proud for our industry. Its all about execution - not dogma! Its time to turns our words into action.

We can have SocialAds - AND - OpenSocial - all truely OPEN!

All I’m really proposing and saying here folks is that it technically possible to support as many of these burgeoning standards as your budget and developers can take - and never say NO to your end-users. Whatever they want to do - is a good thing.

There’s no reason to take sides and ONLY support NetVibes or Twitter! Atom or RSS!

There’s no reason to talk about a battle between consortia aligned with Google or Facebook! Its a complete waste of time.

There’s no reason to think that this is as simple as finding and ’supporting one standard’ and you’re done! That’s just NOT how it works.

Tim O’Reilly says it nicely: “We want applications that can use data from multiple social networks. ” Anything less than that - and we’re not there yet!

Me- I’d just be happy with a bagel that tastes like a bagel - out here on the West coast. JUST KIDDING!

Me - what I can pledge that my company and our product will support any and all of these standards - just as long as we have users asking to control the movement of their data (be it media, social graphs or profile/identity data in general.)

Call it open social networking - call it the battle of the platforms - its all good. Just as long as it tears down the walls.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 6:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.