OpenSocial - What the Heck is it???

and why should you care...

1. OpenSocial is from Google - so right away, its Google for heaven sake and anyone that has anything to do with the internet should perk up their ears a little bit.
2. A brief delve into the techie stuff (very brief and very lite)... developer (people who type up the code for all that cool stuff like Flickr, linkedin, Tendenci, etc.) can now create a cool social application (anything that you set up a profile for) and have that application work across all the social networks that are using OpenSocial.
3. What does that mean for you and me??? Well, I can set up my profile in a Tendenci site... with all my info, pictures, contacts/connections with other folks... then my profile can be used in whole bunch of other site... I don't have to start over each time.
   

   1. What does OpenSocial mean for the end users?

      Most importantly, OpenSocial will benefit end users because -

      - It will allow end users to use the same applications across social networks.
      - Over time, it will allow end users to share and synchronize profile, friend and activity data across social networks.
      - Over time, by allowing more niche social networks to evolve, it will increase the social networking options available to end users.

      Google’s Social Networking Plans: OpenSocial is Not About Facebook
4. One of the downsides... BrandToBeDetermined has an interesting post about OpenSocial. One of things Ed shares is:
   
   1. What Open Social from google promises is portability of the social graph. My concern is, as much as I hate rebuilding my identity on flickr again on facebook, that these are different clubs. My status in these clubs is very very different. And my tenure in these clubs, that time concept again, varies.

So, that's the download of the 10 minutes of research I did... hope its helpful. I am looking forward to seeing how this will show up not for developers and technology businesses... I am interested in how this will show up for my husband, friends, and family. People who are in social networks cause, well... that's how they keep in touch. I wonder when and if I will hear, "hey, did you know that if you set up a profile on X site it also shows up on Y site... how cool is that!"

For a visual example see: Leaks: What OpenSocial will look like on Ning

You can see the Flickster - Movies I Like - Application in the middle of the Ask a Ninja Fan Profile. (I linked it cause I think Ask a Ninja is pretty dang funny!)