Ajax Girl

Facebook is holding a massive press event today in San Francisco to officially launch Facebook Platform. Twenty or so third party applications will also be announced, ranging from RockYou to HotorNot. Mark Zuckerberg goes on stage at 3 pm to make the official announcement, and I’ll be blogging live from there.

Facebook is giving an unprecedented amount of access to developers. The API would allow, for example, a third party to recreate Facebook Photos, the most used photo application on the web. Users could then remove the default Facebook Photos and install the third party version instead.

There will be a special applications area on Facebook where users can browse and add third party apps. But there is also a crucial viral component - when a friend adds an application, it is noted in their news stream on their profile. Clicking on the item brings you to the app, where you can add and/or interact with it yourself.

Users will also be adding applications widgets to their site, where others can click and add it to their own profile.

The payoff is two way. Not only do developers get deep access to Facebook’s twenty million users, Facebook also becomes a rich platform for third party applications.

Facebook’s strategy is almost the polar opposite from MySpace. While MySpace frets over third party widgets, alternatively shutting them down or acquiring them, Facebook is now opening up its core functions to all outside developers.

I’ll be adding my real time notes to this post.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Source: TechCrunch
Original Article: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/119401543/