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Quick Summary: How will Google’s Social Graph API tie up with the earlier released Open Social API to enable social data portability across social networks?

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Google’s just released Social Graph API promises to make public information about the social relationships between people on the web easily available and useful.

The API lets developers of social apps discover the social relationship data (”me links” and “friend links”) for their users embedded in links, blogrolls and social profile pages based on the the XFN (XHTML Friends Network) and FOAF (Friend of a Friend) labeling systems.

Watch Google’s Brad Fitzpatrick explain the Social Graph API in the video below –

Given Google’s terrible track record on the Open Social API, it’s probably wise to not go gaga over the Social Graph API, but here are my top of the mind thoughts on it –

(+) The API only captures social relationship that are embedded in data that is already publicly available. This puts users in control of their own data.
(+) Apps built on the API will allow users to easily port their existing social connections between social networks and may allow users to auto-fill their profile on a new social network.
(+) Apps built on the API will allow users to aggregate their web identities or “me” connections in one place and claim or delete them.
(+) Apps built on the API will allow users to advertise their web presence on profile pages, blogs and about pages by packaging them up in a nice interface.
(+) The Social Graph API complements Google’s Open Social API, which allows developers to build apps that can be used across social networks. I think that an app built using both the APIs will contain all social relationships for an user and be usable across social networks.
(+) There are some concerns about hackers creating fake identities or relationships, but, in my understanding, the Social Graph API will discourage such practices by making social relationships transparent.

Even if you are not a developer, you can get a sense of what the Social Graph API will do by playing around with these three easy to use example applications –

- Site Connectivity: see how your URLs are connected to each other.
- My Connections: see how you’re connected to people on the public web.
- Parameter Playground: play around with the parameters and see what happens.

For more background on social graph portability, see Brad Fitzpatrick’s ‘Thoughts on the Social Web’ and Kevin Marks’ ‘URL are People Too’.

Plaxo has already released Public Profiles, the first app based on the Social Graph API; other social networks are likely to follow soon.

Here are some more interesting perspectives on the Social Graph API — Danny Sullivan, Josh Catone, Philipp Lenssen, Jordan McCollum, Robert Scoble, Michael Arrington, Dan Farber, Eric Eldon, Tom Morris, Jeff Jarvis, John Musser, Marc Canter, Joshua Porter.

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Update February 3, 2008

After the first positive response to Google’s Social Graph API, a series of serious concerns on the algorithm have come up, essentially around three areas –

- The social graph API relies on “rel=” tags, but most websites don’t use these tags. The API should be able to intuitively understand relationships based on linking, following/ friending or association behavior.

- Most websites, in fact, use the “rel=no follow” tag, which Google’s crawler ignores. Therefore, a similar API built on the Yahoo! crawler, which doesn’t ignore “rel=no follow” links, is likely to work better.

- The API only computes relationships at one degree of separation, whereas it should consider all available data in its algorithm.

So, the prevailing sentiment on the Social Graph API seems to be —

It is exactly what the web needs, except that it doesn’t work.

– which seems to be true of most new web 2.0 apps actually —

Every new app in web 2.0 is something + something else, except that its neither. (link)

Is the Social Graph API another damp squib from Google after the Open Social API?

Recommended Reading:

• Google’s Social Networking Plans: OpenSocial is Not About Facebook (2)
• Google All Set to Maka-Maka! (2)
• Yahoo and Google Pitched Against Each Other for Online Advertising Dominance (0)
• What’s Wrong With Indian Social Networking Sites? (17)
• Updated: Why Use Twitter When You Can Make Your Own Microblogging Network With Wordpress Prologue? (11)