I'm struck this morning by the simultaneous moves to open up and close off data and services to developers. The last few weeks we have seen MySpace's security concerns lead them to shut down outbound links from flash widgets, seriously curtailing the business of third party developers and decreasing the functionality of their ecosystem. One must assume that MySpace has learned the ills of erecting walls around one's garden from the likes of AOL, so hopefully these restrictions will be short lived. I'm guessing them will rectify the situation shortly.
Kudos this week go to Facebook, which in my opinion was the most closed of all of the social network sites until most recently. In fact, being insular was their initial point of differentiation--providing access to profiles only to classmates and their friends. Last week Facebook announced a developers program, which should provide an interesting platform for college projects and even for-profit businesses. I can picture that one lurpy guy with the too-high pants developing the newest fashionable way to hook up using Facebook. We'll see.
The APIs allow access to a fair amount of data, but the social network site is obviously doing its best to protect its data from being siphoned off and used outside of its system. This challenge is faced by all holders of proprietary information. We see the benefit of distributing the information widely in order to reinforce our networks and to create greater value to our customers as they utilize the information in ways they choose. But there is fear that the data will simply slip away into nefarious hands, or that the value of the data to the service will dissipate as it becomes broadly available on the web.
So it is up to the content rights holder to make the decision whether or not to be open, or how to structure their openness as they walk this line. We have had several debates on the Rhapsody team about this subject, weighing the power of the incredible editorial content cultivated over years of work and the desire to support of developers. So far we have decided to err on the side of being open, and I believe that will continue. While there will be some small bits that we will have to hold back due to licensing issues or copyright concerns, but we're working on getting in your hands all the tools that will make your applications better.
So in that spirit, tell us what you want, and we'll try to oblige.
--Dave Hanley
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