Google have obviously read my post on Social Graphing and decided to act

News out today on TechCrunch that Google will be launching a new set of API's called OpenSocial (URL not yet working) on Thursday this week. The basic premise is that Google isn't creating another social network but that they'll be releasing API's which talk to all participating existing social networks. They become, essentially, a node which lets developers hook into (and out of) these networks. As Michael Arrington says:

"Google wants to create an easy way for developers to create an application that works on all social networks. And if they pull it off, they’ll be in the center, controlling the network"

Orkut, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Ning, Hi5, Plaxo, Friendster, Viadeo and Oracle are among those participating. And it's obvious, really, why they would want to - the Goliath they have their sites on is Facebook, and Google support (ensuring with some certainty that the crowd will follow..) means much increased exposure.

Notable in its absence is of course Facebook, and I'm guessing that'll be the next big bit of blogosphere speculation...