Year Ahead in Social Networks: Facebook Will Still Be King, but Don't Count Out MySpace and LinkedIn
Social networking experts say all three will focus on continued application development and new advertising initiatives.
Technology: Opening Up Platform, But How Much?
When LinkedIn opened their platform for third-party development in December, [/article/163601] some seven months after Facebook, Boyd questioned if it was too little, too late.
"LinkedIn is long overdue here," Boyd says. He also notes the innovations that can occur atop LinkedIn's platform are limited given its narrow focus. "It's a big catalogue of resumes and not much else. It isn't incredibly social," Boyd says.
The other thing that could hinder application development will be that LinkedIn might put tight restrictions on what apps it makes available to its users. Facebook and MySpace have adopted a liberal approach to this trend.
"They'll be heavy handed about what makes it on to LinkedIn," says Young. "But I expect the command and control mentality to relax over time."


