In a move that “Facebook’s” Facebook, and in the true spirit of an open source world, Google announced a collaboration 
with many of the leading social networks including LinkedIn, hi5, Friendster, Plaxo,Ning, and their own Okurt, to adopt the [Google driven] OpenSocial standard for applications and widgets.
The NY Times reports “A person briefed on the plans said the sites in the alliance had a combined 100 million users, more than double the size of Facebook.” Apparently Facebook was invited to participate, but has yet to confirm.
This move brings us closer to the platform agnostic world that I rant about so regularly. The streamlined nature of this standard is exactly what appeals to developers and marketers. We shouldn’t have to worry about or selectively work within the nuances and differences among technologies that distribute our marketing messages and experiences between one channel and another. Ubiquitous distribution of content and applications should become second nature across digital sub-channels. In theory the standard brings us one step closer to that.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you’ll know that I have been making one main prediction: That we will be moving to a platform agnostic, database driven, interoperable world where media and technology have merged. I think we’re getting closer…
