In a bid to regain some respect in the ever-fickle web development community, MySpace is about to launch their developer platform. Why should anyone care? Because despite all the hype around FaceBook and its platform, MySpace is still the most popular social networking site on the web by a long shot, that's why.

Of some significance, the MySpace platform is said to be compatible with OpenSocial, Google's social networking developer platform (yes, they have one too). OpenSocial is also supported by Bebo and SixApart, so it seems there's a bit of a cartel forming to compete with FaceBook.

Apparently these platforms are great ways for developers to make money. How exactly? By plastering their embedded applications with ads and/or PayPal donation buttons, or alternatively by selling the "pro" versions of their applications for some coin. It's a win-win scenario I guess: Users get some added functionality and developers get some revenue. Too bad I just removed all my 3rd party apps due to privacy-invasion fears.

Seems like every startup these days is launching a new product or service with "social networking" features. And predictably, every old-school web property is either retooling their current offering (or acquiring another company) to provide similar features and functionality. So what gives? Why has everything suddenly become so... social? And more importantly, what does it mean for us as a species?

In the old days of the Web, one of the key selling points of this great new technology called the Internet was anonymity. For the first time ever, you could get access to, what seemed at the time like, an unlimited amount of information, without anyone else knowing what you were up to. Initially, this basically meant two things: porn and bomb-making. At least, that's what my peers were really excited about back in '94. But things really exploded when e-commerce came along and suddenly you could buy virtually anything anonymously, including everything from clothing (lingerie) to hardware (sex toys), to books (porn) and movies (more porn). Oh, and of course you could finally complete your childhood collection of ultra-rare Star Wars action figures. Life was wonderful back then, and none of your family, friends, or colleagues had to know about it.   read more »