Hi5 Developer Platform Follows In Facebook Footsteps
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on October 05, 2007,
The launch of the Facebook Platform led to a massive increase in Facebook's user base, not to mention a slew of applications that developers are hoping will manage to generate some kind of revenue.
Since that launch, several other social networks, such as MySpace, Bebo and LinkedIn, have kept a watchful eye, with some making plans for their own development platforms.
Today, Hi5 looks to be the next social network to follow the example that Facebook has set, with their own platform for developers, as company representatives announced at the CommunityNext conference for application developers for social networking platforms.
Back in August, Hi5 quietly unveiled an API which seems to have gone largely unnoticed, possibly because the selection is somewhat limited. Could this platform be what Hi5 needs to continue its growth?
According to VentureBeat, Hi5 executives are currently getting feedback from users and third party developers on how to best prepare the platform. The current widget gallery at Hi5 offers primarily widgets from Slide and RockYou to allow users to add custom slide shows and special effects to profiles.
Hi5 is already comparable to Facebook in terms of users with 35 million, but most of those are outside of the US, which happens to be Facebook's weak area. Eric Eldon made a good point when mentioning that Hi5 is probably most known for reconnecting immigrants in new countries with long-lost friends and family members back home. “Such differences between user bases have an impact on what sort of applications are developed for the respective platforms. Its easy to imagine a Hi5 application, for example, that lets users find other people from their hometowns who now live in their new community.”
With that said, I could easily see the Hi5 developer platform being very successful. Don't sit up waiting for this platform's launch however, as Hi5 has given themselves 12 months to create a product ready for general use.
