Is this how Facebook feels right now?
Some reactions:
Dave Winer: “Standards devised by one tech company whose main purpose is to undermine another tech company, usually don’t work. In this case it’s Google trying to undermine Facebook. And I don’t think it’s going to workâ€�
Fred Stutzman: Agrees with Dave
Fred Wilson: “I like what Google is doing with Open Social. Ganging up on the leader is a time-honored way of competing. And a level playing field is usually good for the newcomers, and we have a portfolio full of newcomers�
Nick O’Neil: “If you think that Facebook’s primary strength is their Facebook platform and that Facebook’s goal was to bring the entire web within Facebook, then yes they may have lost the war. I would argue that the platform is not Facebook’s primary strengthâ€�
Om Malik: “Even if you take Facebook out of the equation, the task of writing and adapting widgets for the every increasing number of social platforms was going to turn into a colossal mess. OpenSocial looks to address some of those issues. This is a mild negative for start-ups who are offering middleware services around widgets�
Richard MacManus: “It’s Facebook vs MySpace vs The Rest – and The Rest is now operating under a Google frameworkâ€� [now Myspace is part of ‘the rest’]
My thoughts: Microsoft is not an idiot and they knew that Google was going to challenge Facebook with something like this. Facebook could not hold a monopoly forever. Thus while the $15B FB valuation still surprises me, it is a clear vindication (in my mind) that social media is here to stay as a long-term play.