I’ve been giving a fair amount of attention to Google’s OpenSocial platform over the past week. Here are some initial thoughts

• You can build OpenSocial apps as Google Gadgets or on your own.
• Gadgets can be easily added to iGoogle and Orkut. Not sure how other sites will handle these.
• Orkut, Ning, and Plaxo are the only sites which have exposed any OpenSocial data.
• Authentication can be done via authSubRequest where you receive a token back, or you can collect uname/pw and auth the user yourself server side.
• User data security is an issue: http://hyper.to/blog/link/opensocial-insecurity-no-user-to-app-authentication/
• Running issues list: http://groups.google.com/group/opensocial-api/web/opensocial-issues-list

You have to apply to a host before anyone let’s you participate. Orkut let me in, but Plaxo didn’t let me participate. They suggested I build my app first, then get back to them. I haven’t tried Ning.

The OpenSocial libraries and data are very buggy right now. Google is quick to remind us we’re part of a closed beta. I’ve also read reports of people in different parts of the world having different experience with uptime. For me, I was able to add my test Gadget to Orkut’s sandbox environment and have it work, but it wouldn’t work as an iGoogle gadget.

Here’s a list of a few OpenSocial links for further reading:

• OS Issues List
• Social Design Best Practices
• Publishing your gadget
• OpenSocialAppList.com
• OpenSocialStuff.com – Developer Applications