Rikcat Industries

I’m a huge proponent of open platforms and open API’s, so when Google announced Open Social I was excited. After thinking about it for a bit, I’m not so sure about it now. It’s great for developers to have exposure to these host services’ large user-bases, but at what cost to the hosts brand? The thought of a Facebook style Vampire application on Linkedin just doesn’t sit right.

A couple of months back, I wrote about Facebook’s Platform and its closed nature. I still think that its walled garden approach is a problem, but I think the platform creates bigger problems for branding. My experiences on Facebook are a mixed bag, with quality of their installable applications all over the place.

Branding isn’t just about look and feel, it’s about the full user experience. My feelings about Facebook since they launched their platform has changed. I find the site fun but also quite juvenile. With all the adolescent noise that the applications create, it makes it hard to take Facebook seriously. So with all of these other networks getting on board Open Social, are we to expect the same wild west, anything goes type of environments?

The host services for Open Social have to keep their brands in mind when deciding to allow truly open application building in their host environments. I have a feeling that sites, like Linkedin, that have a specific brand and audience will have some sort of application approval system. So the Open Social isn’t going to be that open when all things shake out.