Facebook — The Platform Expands
May 25, 2007 | by Christopher Nickson
Facebook has opened itself to developers to create a host of ambitious new applications for the social networking site.
In a move that could signal a major change for social networking sites, Facebook has announced that it’s opened itself to developers who will create applications for the Facebook platform.
Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement at Facebook’s f8 conference in San Francisco on Thursday which was attended by over 750 developers. The Facebook Platform debuted in February after six months in Beta.
“We're pushing to make the world a more open place," said Zuckerberg. “We’re here to unveil the next evolution of the Facebook Platform. ...Right now, social networks are closed platforms. Today, we’re going to end that.”
More than 65 partners have created applications for Facebook. The rationale behind opening to outside developers is that they can bring more value to the platform than the company can manage by itself.
They’ve certainly recruited some heavy hitters, including Amazon, who have developed a Book Reviews application that allows Facebook users to add reviews to their profiles with purchase links for the book to Amazon. Microsoft is also on board, with developers helping co-ordinate its Popfly application with Facebook.
Also part of the plan is iLike, a music tool that members will be able to add to their pages, and which will give members recommendations on songs and concerts, depending on their tastes and location.
It’s certainly an ambitious move for Zuckerberg, 23, who sees Facebook evolving a “social operating system.” In the eight months since it opened to non-students, membership has grown to an estimated 24 million, and hopes to have 50 million subscribers by the end of the year (by contract, MySpace currently boasts 67 million members).
Developers will be asked to work within certain guidelines, to keep a relative uniformity to the pages.
Although the highly independent Facebook continues to stride ahead, it has encountered a few problems recently. In Canada, for instance, some schools have suspended students for negative comments about teachers on the site.
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