Facebook opens up 'activity stream' to external developers

Be the first to comment | 3I like it!
April 27, 2009, 01:12 PM —  IDG News Service — 

Highlighting the rising popularity of real-time action notifications in social networks, Facebook will let external developers access the "activity stream" its members display on their profiles.

The goal is to give Facebook members applications designed to let them access, organize, read, interact with and manage this flow of postings, the company said on Monday in an official blog.

Developers will be able to access this content as of Monday via the new Facebook Open Stream API (application programming interface), according to Facebook.

Dave Morin, Facebook's senior platform manager, said the API will for the first time allow activity streams to appear outside of the Facebook Web site.

"We expect developers will create many different client applications on mobile phones, desktops and other Web sites, and provide many interesting ways to consume the stream and create unique experiences for users," Morin said in an interview.

This is a good move because it will help Facebook members have more control over the sometimes-overwhelming speed and quantity of information flowing into their activity streams, IDC analyst Caroline Dangson said.

"Opening this up to developers will help members find more utility in the activity stream," she said.

For example, developers could come up with applications to let members aggregate stream information in different ways and find connections in the flow of content, in the way that developers have built applications for Twitter for similar purposes, Dangson said.

However, Facebook has to be careful about avoiding privacy landmines, since the activity stream includes all sorts of information about members, including photos and videos, she said.

Unlike Twitter, whose user culture is more open regarding the broadcast of its microblogging posts, Facebook members tend to be much more sensitive about the privacy of the information they post.

Thus, Facebook must make sure that it gives members clear information about the data the API will expose and granular access controls.

"This is a bit trickier to do on Facebook, so it has to be very careful about how it deals with the privacy settings," Dangson said. "Facebook wants to avoid another privacy backlash. It has to tread carefully."

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

I like it!
Close

On Twitter now

facebook

Powered by Twitter
You are logged in | Sign out
Sign in and post to Twitter

What are you thinking?

Cancel Tweet sent

On Twitter now

Post a comment
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
peer-to-peer

Brian Proffitt
Microsoft/Novell: Breaking Down the Coupon Numbers

Esther Schindler
Drupal's Dries Buytaert on Building the Next Drupal

Tom Henderson
Top Ten General Operating Systems Rants

pasmith
PS3 motion controller delayed; goes up against Project Natal

sjvn
Neolithic Windows security hole alive and well in Windows 7

claird
Perl source code comparison makes for good reading

mikelgan
Cell phones don't create stress or interrupt much

Sandra Henry-Stocker
How to: The Unix Interview

 

Where Google Chrome security fails: the password
I heard mention that the Chrome OS will have some sort of encryption available a la bitlocker. If it's possible to encrypt personal data using another password or key, then it may have potential for very secure data.... And Ubuntu has an 'encrypt home directory' option, perhaps google should follow suit.
- Dann

Join the conversation here

The Daily Tip

The Daily TipQuick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.

Hot tips:

Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.

Newsletters

Subscribe to ITWORLD TODAY and receive the latest IT news and analysis.

I would like to receive offers via email from ITworld partners.
By clicking submit you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in ITworld's privacy policy.
Marketplace