Facebook paves the way for interconnected social networks

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Facebook is planning to allow members to post Widgets on their pages. This is a powerful step towards linking large online social networks with niche contextual communities and services.

Vauhini Vara nicely sums up the importance of this decision:

This move is significant because it could turn Facebook into a central hub for Web users […] rather than using Facebook only to keep in touch with friends and going elsewhere for other content, users could now gain access to that content inside Facebook. That could keep people on Facebook for longer periods of time, which would also appeal to advertisers.

Facebook becomes center of the universe?

Will Facebook replace the desktop? Perhaps not for software-intensive worker bees, but it sounds like a real possibility for social media users. What’s more interesting is how KickApps sites will flourish in this environment.

InformationWeek quotes Alex’s observation that “Facebook is taking a very aggressive, open approach, which is what we have been saying all along is the key for a social network to remain relevant to its audience over a long period of time.”

BusinessWeek provides further analysis of Widgets’ value on social networks like Facebook, Myspace, Friendster, and Bebo, again citing Alex’s statement that these sites “are just going to have to allow it to happen.”

This is an exciting prospect for Facebook and other forward thinking social platforms: they may leapfrog not only MySpace but personal homepage services like iGoogle, yourminis, and Netvibes by freely intermingling their core content, community, and services with external tools and features, embedded in the form of Widgets.

What about the spokes?

If Facebook becomes the hub, what about the rest of us? This is great news for KickApps affiliates’ contextual communities. We’re looking forward to communities forging interconnected bonds:

1. A KickApps affiliate builds a contextual community
2. The affiliate then builds some Widgets that showcase top rated videos, popular blogs, recent members, or anything else
3. The affiliate invites her community members to post the Widgets on their Facebook/Friendster pages
4. The big social platform gets free content and a reinforced role as social hub while the contextual community gets access to a larger audience; both sites share traffic back and forth

With this process, we’re building an ecosystem of open portal sites, allowing people to travel around the web, taking their identity, media, and any other “stuff” with them, getting the best of all worlds. In this ecosystem, the big, decontextualized sites serve as a “town square” where users can wander about and meet anyone. But their niche sites — their contextual communities — are what they come home to. MySpace is an exciting Wild West, whereas a contextual site is Cheers: everyone knows your name. Both experiences play a crucial role in users’ future online experience, and Widgets will help us bridge that gap.