P@ Log

Information Rules, by Carl Shapiro and Hal Varian (now chief economist at Google) is the best book about technology strategy I have read. It was published in 1998, 10 years ago, so the examples are Netscape vs Microsoft, or Microsoft vs Intuit, but the examples are just illustrations of deeper principles that apply today more than ever.
During the panel at Web 2.0 Expo this morning “Comparing Social Platforms”, I explained that building a standard like OpenSocial was a direct application of Chapter 8 and 9 of this book. I recommend anyone interested in technology strategy to read it.

When we talked about specific verticals to be socialized, Dave Morin from Facebook who was in the panel said: “We look at it as a market: there are many verticals to be socialized”.

This echoes a quote from the book that applies very much to OpenSocial: “Standards change competition for a market to competition within a market.”

I do hope that Facebook ends up implementing OpenSocial and joins the market that this standard is creating for developers:-)