In a move that will challenge the popularity of Facebook, Google is set to release OpenSocial, a service that will allow developers to deliver applications, that are compatibly across a variety of networks. For nearly a month, speculation has been rife that Google is aiming to release a challenge to Facebook. According to Arnold Zafra from Search Engine Journal, OpenSocial is,

“A collaborative tool that would spark and simplify web innovation, OpenSocial promises to standardize and simplify the development of social applications by offering a set of common APIs geared towards the development of “open” and “freely” available social network applications and tools.”

Myspace, Bebo and Friendster have joined OpenSocial. This will provide Developers all over the world the ability to build widgets that will work across all these sites with only minor tweakage.

Facebook was not included in the initial development stage. Some of the applications available on Facebook, were designed by people who are now involved in OpenSocial. Competition between OpenSocial and other social networking websites will provide a diverse group of services, which will probably clutter the market. The benefit of this is that users of social networking websites, will be able to find a service and applications that best suits their needs.

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