MySpace may be following Facebook’s lead.
Evidence from a page
on the social network’s domain indicates the Fox Interactive Media
company plans to open its platform to third parties through new
APIs
On the page, titled Albums Web Service, MySpace links to a series of
sample requests and responses that third parties should expect when
interfacing with the APIs.
The titles for the sample requests and
response pages are “InsertAlbum,” “GetImagesCount,”
“GetAlbumSlideShow,” and “GetAlbums,” suggesting the APIs will allow
third parties to develop applications utilizing MySpace member photos.
A MySpace spokeswoman told internetnews.com she was unaware
of the page or the APIs.
If MySpace is planning to open its platform, as well as a graph of its users
and their relationships to each other, it would be following close on the heels of Facebook, which announced the Facebook Platform in May.
Since its launch, the Facebook Platform has been an undeniable success, company spokeswoman Brandee Barker told internetnews.com.
She said the platform’s growth has been much greater
than expected, with more than 25,000 developers creating
more than 1,000 applications for Facebook already. She said more
than 50 percent of its users have added at least one application.
That’s a boon for Facebook, which now has third-party
developers creating the new features for its site, allowing the
company to focus its own resources on maintaining the platform.
Meanwhile, the site’s popularity continues. Facebook saw 26.6
million visitors in May, up 89 percent over the same period a year ago, according to Hitwise
market research.
Opening platforms to third-party developers is becoming common
practice in Silicon Valley. Google’s got Gadgets, Apple’s got Widgets, and Microsoft’s business model has been about the platform
from the beginning. If obscure URLs from the MySpace domain are
to be trusted, the Fox Interactive property will soon join the ranks.
