We've heard from a couple of reliable sources that social network Bebo is about to announce a developer platform very soon. Apparently it will be a "platform API". The source of these rumors is a Bebo investor, so we think it's on the mark. Bebo is one of the largest social networks in the world and is above MySpace and Facebook in some parts of the world (e.g. it is number 1 in the UK).
Earlier this week we heard that MySpace will launch its 3rd party developer platform in just a few weeks. And of course the instigator of large scale social networking platforms, Facebook, announced their "open platform" in May 2007. Although it turned out to be not quite so open, the Facebook platform has been probably the year's biggest Web success story to date.
So the social network 'platform wars' will be well and truly on, once MySpace and now Bebo launch their developer platforms! Watch this space for more on the Bebo news...
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YAWN...
Posted by: David K | October 10, 2007 4:17 PMThe competing platforms will serve to make the open platform of the web even more attractive.
Posted by: Hashim Warren | October 10, 2007 4:40 PMThe news is significant in New Zealand... Bebo is still the larger player here.
A platform API will possibly increase the uptake of Bebo, making the news more significant.
Posted by: Alpha | October 10, 2007 5:01 PMI have never even knew about bebo... hmm will have to check it out asap!
Posted by: Nature Wallpaper | October 10, 2007 6:40 PMI'm still struggling with considering the Facebook platform to be a success story. To me, it just seems they're now allowing the same junk that MySpace has always permitted. And there are more UI constraints.
Of the 5000+ apps, only ~80 have more than 100K users. And MOST POPULAR "apps" seem to be Slide and RockYou widgets. More or less the same widgets that have existed on MySpace for years.
Don't get me wrong; I really like the idea of a platform. But so far, I haven't seen *anything* on Facebook that is new, and has any significant adoption.
Can someone point me to the wonderful new Facebooks apps that people are so excited about? Why aren't there fantastic new, useful, engaging apps with millions of users? Is it that FB is really a dating site and we just want it to be more?
Posted by: Israel LHeureux | October 11, 2007 12:32 AMSeriously guys, are slideshows and super walls, super poke, booze mail and fluff friends really the year's biggest Web success story?
There really is a changing of the winds happening RIGHT NOW...the new age of the open social graph.
Once there is a ubiquitous way to integrate social networks and developer platforms, I'll always be able to bring my social graph with me wherever I go online. That really changes the game, across the entire internet.
Web 3.0? Ha.
Dan Ackerman Greenberg
Stanford '08
Head Course Assistant, Stanford Facebook Class
AckermanGreenberg.com
Posted by: Dan Ackerman Greenberg | October 11, 2007 12:56 AMAnd by "Ha", I mean "Wow, we are right in the middle of the third major change on the internet."
Posted by: Dan Ackerman Greenberg | October 11, 2007 12:58 AMwww.AckermanGreenberg.com
Well, I think I will agree with Israel LHeureux! But, one thing is for sure that after the jump of Bebo, Myspace and Orkut in the developer platform, I'm sure that many developers will find it just useful and will able to monetize to some extent....although we still have to see something constructive as far as these so called applications are concerned.
Posted by: ReviewSaurus | October 11, 2007 1:27 AM