Yahoo and the Facebook dilemma

Yahoo is mounting a major push for third-party developers. Yahoo CTO Ari Balogh says its goal is nothing less than to transform Yahoo from a portal into a bona fide social network.

But Neil McAllister, writing in Yahoo and the Facebook dilemma, has a few reservations: "I'm all for opening up online services to third party developers. But in any group of third party developers, there will always be a certain number of bad actors. Often, they won't even realize who they are, because let's face it -- Web developers are hackers."

Perhaps Yahoo should take a closer look at Facebook's experiences in this area? Issue arose when "Facebook unilaterally began broadcasting its users' online buying habits." And let's not forget, the company also ran into hot water for "providing Facebook subscribers with easy-access stalking tools for all their online connections." Facebook next had to "tighten restrictions on its own developer APIs when its site became a haven for spammers."

McAllister points to the iPhone developer program, which Apple takes an active role in policing, and cautions: "If Yahoo is really planning the largest social networking site in the world, it should take the lead in drafting best practices, as well."

Posted by Caroline Craig on May 1, 2008 05:11 AM