Of all the change Web 2.0 has created, the biggest impact to business has been the open developer model. Apple just announced it will release a software developer kit (SDK) in a few months for the iPhone (WSJ article), a famously closed platform. And MySpace just announced (Reuter article) it will broaden its third party software model to include an SDK anyone can use (not just a select few key developers chosen by MySpace management).

Facebook has proven the market wants open platforms. Its growth from 28M visitors in May when it first offered its developer kit to 47M today — just 5 months later is astounding. Over 6000 applications have been developed for the Facebook platform in that short time.

The model for third-party developed applications has been around for a long, long time. What makes it so powerful now? Wikis, social sites, blogs, and podcasts have made for a Web where anyone can share their ideas and work or collaborate with like minded people anywhere in the world. It fosters an environment of creativity around products and platforms people like.

Where 10 years ago a company might spend 5 years or more building up a developer base of just 1000-2000 applications, today triple the number of apps can be developed in just 5 months. If you don’t play in the open arena, you’re going to get left behind.

For a deeper look at building an open model into your company read Henry Chesbrough’s Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape. Show me more »

David Rubenstein, the director of the advocacy group Save Darfur, was recently removed from his post. He had run advertisements which conflicted with the concerns and needs of the aid organizations on the ground in Darfur. Advertising is so public it is often what breaks open seething conflicts that lie beneath the skin within collaborating groups or across companies. Show me more »

Setting up your own social site can take more work than you have resources to deploy. Wetpaint solves this problem by offering a wiki-based social platform and hosted service. Over 340,000 sites have been set up by customers with 50,000 new sites/month coming online. Show me more »

Posting from OMMA West (in Hollywood, CA)

Shelly Palmer, managing partner with Advanced Media Ventures Group, hosted a panel this morning on the disintermediation of brand from content, a subject I like to talk about. Shelly made a profound statement: “Context is King”. (Can there be two kings?) Show me more »

You might think Cisco’s purchase of online conferencing company WebEx is just another tool for the company’s networking bag. But I think it’s more than that. Collaboration is going to become as transparent as networking over the next several years. Just as we all use spreadsheets and word processors, we will use tools that allow us to work in real-time with colleagues, partners, customers wherever they reside. Show me more »

If content is king, where is its kingdom? It used to be content was controlled by TV networks, cable networks, music labels or news publishers. But so much has changed. Whether it is movies, TV episodes, books, news articles or music, content has been disaggregated from its brand (owner) and reaggregated somewhere else on the Net. Show me more »

What’s amazing about the ever growing social phenomena is that people want to offer up their time to create things for fun, experience or reputation. Smart companies are sharing more of their private or proprietary information in order to facilitate the process and many are even allowing customers to share in the proceeds. Show me more »