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By on October 3, 2008

Friendster to Add Facebook App Compatibility

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friendsterI have a little song for you today. It’s to the tune of “Oh Shenandoah.”

O-pen Social, you long to give us
A-a-apps, all open source
O-pen Social, you long to serve us
A-a-away you’re bound to go
‘Cause Facebook’s stealing your lunch

Okay, the last line might not fit so well in the song, but it looks to be happening in the real world. Yet another social network that had pledged its support to Open Social is adding compatibility with Facebook’s application language. Yes, first it was Bebo (in December) and now it’s Friendster.

Announced a year ago, Open Social is Google’s answer to Facebook’s then-proprietary social network app markup language. Designed as a cross-platform, open source language and set of standards, Open Social seemed pretty awesome at first.

But the shine was off pretty quick. With delays in release and some limitations in its application, Open Social partners began eyeing Facebook’s markup language, FBML, as soon as Facebook announced that they’d be allowing their language to be used by other sites. Bebo announced it would work with both Open Social and FBML that very day—just as both LinkedIn and Friendster announced the launch of their own platforms.

In May, Facebook made its platform open source, severely undercutting that aspect of Open Social’s USP. The huge, obvious advantage there is the instant compatibility with thousands of popular apps already developed for Facebook. What better way to encourage developers to work with you than by showing them it doesn’t require any work?

Friendster just barely joined up with Open Social last month. Open Social continues to loses its exclusive partners as they sign on to use both protocols. Is this one fight that Google may be losing? Or have they already won by forcing Facebook to go open source?

I’ll also be taking requests for next week’s song to parodize. Witchy Woman, anyone?


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15 comments on “Friendster to Add Facebook App Compatibility”

  1. Utah SEO Pro Says:

    October 3rd, 2008 at 4:01 pm

    Looks like Facebook is making a lot of “friends” of its own w/Friendster, Digg, and others.

    Utah SEO Pro’s last blog post..Social Media Expert Quiz

  2. SEO next Says:

    October 3rd, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    This should be good for both of them…

  3. Zurpit Says:

    October 3rd, 2008 at 7:54 pm

    Its great to have a little competition, they will both benefit from this

  4. Nicole Price Says:

    October 4th, 2008 at 6:15 am

    Facebook is more like the old man river. It just keeps rolling on!

    Nicole Price’s last blog post..Hypermiling

  5. PS3 Says:

    October 4th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

    Surely the social networking scene has to reach saturation point some time soon? How many places can we sign up to/post etc?

  6. iCalvyn Says:

    October 4th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

    i start to use friendster about 4 to 5 year ago, and only use facebook this year.

    If not mistaken, friendster are more popular in asian country

  7. Dennis Edell Says:

    October 4th, 2008 at 8:41 pm

    Has Google put out the contracts yet?

    Dennis Edell’s last blog post..My First Contest! Time To Put Your Thinking Caps On…

  8. Gobala Krishnan Says:

    October 5th, 2008 at 3:12 am

    Guess Google can’t win all the time. Chrome isn’t picking up that well either.

    Gobala Krishnan’s last blog post..New Banners for Profit Blogger Affiliates

  9. Jacques Snyman Says:

    October 5th, 2008 at 11:59 am

    The more standardization and cross-compatibility between platforms, the better, IMO

  10. zncustombuilding Says:

    October 5th, 2008 at 2:35 pm

    well i’ve been using it and it is a nice application…. anyways thanks for the post

  11. QuickPWN Says:

    October 6th, 2008 at 12:22 pm

    I would say that Google has already won by having Facebook go open source. That’s what Google is about!

    QuickPWN’s last blog post..Install Flash Player iPhone App

  12. kouji Says:

    October 6th, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    indeed. competition and the free flow of information tend to be pluses.

    kouji’s last blog post..haiku poem: nature (bird)

  13. Christmas Guy Says:

    October 6th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    Google cannot be the winner every time. can’t it?

    Christmas Guy’s last blog post..Humorous Christmas Gifts

  14. Goran Web Design Says:

    October 7th, 2008 at 4:53 am

    The open source route was best for facebook. I think Google won by getting them to finally go “open source”.

  15. Check Page Rank Says:

    October 11th, 2008 at 7:30 am

    Facebook is certainly more easy to customized but I would say Friendster is far more user friendly thus popular in Asian countries.