74.4. VIRAL SOCIAL NETWORK APPLICATIONS

In terms of viral potential, social network applications are the next step up from widgets. Applications differ from widgets in that they have access to the core social functions of the network.

For example, a Facebook application can access the news feed, make requests, and share functions, among other tasks.

This is very powerful from a viral standpoint, because it means the entire "friend" network of those using your application can be exposed to its existence and invited to use it and/or install it on their own page.

Network applications were first introduced by Facebook, but Google is now promoting a standard implementation of network applications called OpenSocial. This standard has been adopted by several social networks, though not by Facebook.

For converting your widgets to Facebook applications, check out these two sites:

http://www.clearspring.com/platform/facebook

http://docs.widgetbox.com/developers/app-accelerator/

These companies offer OpenSocial-based application development services:

http://www.contextoptional.com/

http://momentumdesignlab.com/services/social_media.php

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