Myspace, Bebo join the OpenSocial party

It’s confirmed Mypsace and bebo to embrace OpenSocial. So this is going to be great news for OpenSocial. Looks like OpenSocial is really opening up the social platform. Well, except for facebook. Look’s like they are giving lame excuses about not being aware of OpenSocial or were not invited to join OpenSocial. (Apparently, in the Google campfire, some of facebook engineers were present. Not sure if this says something).So now it’s all about Google with everyone, and facebook with Microsoft. Interesting competition ahead. I liked the quote from Micheal

"The playing field has been evened, and no one wins. Except Google. They always win."

Here is a press release about myspace and Google

"Our partnership with Google allows developers to gain massive distribution without unnecessary specialized development for every platform," said Chris DeWolfe, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of MySpace. "This is about helping the start-up spend more time building a great product rather than rebuilding it for every social network. We're pleased to collaborate with Google to establish a landmark standard for social applications."

I have to admit, been blogging for couple of weeks now and OpenSocial is the most exciting news I have followed. Gosh, there is so much of stuff written in the blogosphere. Everybody is on their toes to catch up with what’s happening with OpenSocial. From the user standpoint, should he be really excited? I guess so! Though, this is good news for developers and startups building widgets for social networking platform. At the end, it’s the user who decides the winner and ultimately that is what matters.
Some questions still linger my mind:
• How does Google monetize the service
• Will Google insert ads inside the widgets
• If so, does this mean Google will force all the widgets using their OpenSocial platform to use their ad platform
• If facebook plans to join OpenSocial, it will be a conflict of interest between their SocialAd and Adsense

What google thinks about the deal
"There is no question Google will benefit from this," Joe Kraus, a Google product manager, said in a Tuesday interview. "Google's role is highly intertwined with the Web, so anything that makes the Web a better experience tends to help Google."

For more insight, check out marc’s Blog . Also, check out the Video from zdnet and the conference audio.