Developed by Google Inc., OpenSocial is a set of common APIs for building social
applications across multiple Web sites, including
social networking sites (SNS).
OpenSocial applications use Google's gadget architecture but with extensions
that provide access to social data within its container environment. Similar to
Google Gadgets, OpenSocial apps are hosted XML documents with HTML and/or
JavaScript within their bodies. The OpenSocial API can be
accessed on the client-side using the JavaScript API, and
on the server-side by using RESTful data APIs. Some Web sites currently using
OpenSocial include Friendster, hi5, LinkedIn, MySpace, orkut, Salesforce.com,
and others.
