Google takes on Facebook

Last week Microsoft beat Google at the Facebook races putting the value of the social network at a huge 15bn. But Google has proved it’s not done with sites like Facebook yet.

In an attempt to gain back last weeks lost social networking ground, Google has launched a system which will allow developers to create third party applications for social networking sites. OpenSocial offers tools so that developers can build applications that wont just run on Orkut but other social networks aswell.

Google claim that at least a dozen sites have already jumped on board the OpenSocial ship including LinkedIn, the popular business social network and Friendster. Developers who have signed up with OpenSocial include Flixster, iLike and RockYou.