Facebook and Google Own the Web

I've spent some timeplaying with the latest announcement from Facebook, Open Graph (http://developers.facebook.com/docs/opengraph), which lets websites integrate the "Like" feature into their web pages. Let me say it clearly for those of you who do not yet know.

Facebook and Google own the web and allow the rest of us to play in it.

I've heard a lot lately that structured content is the next big wave on the web, but now I believe it with Open Graph.  Structured content lets the web know what the content is, not just what to display. I'll use the exact example given to me.

A teacher enters grades on a spreadsheet with column titles. You know the GPA by looking at the top of the column and seeing "GPA". When you copy that number to a new spreadsheet, it no longer has a context so no one knows what it is. With structured content, when you copy the number, the spreadsheet knows that it's a GPA.

That's how structured content works on the web. Search engines will soon be able to index a page and understand the content through the context if it is formatted correctly.  That's a huge leap forward in the evolution of the internet. So instead of just searching for some random keywords, the search engine will know that a search for Cornus florida is a search for a horticultural plant.

There is a mad scramble among the web world to try to figure out how to make the most of these changes. I have no idea how this will play out, but I do know it will have a major impact on how we all publish and find content.

You can see the experiments I've been running with it on Landscapedia.  I've added the Facebook "Like" to different pages. Check out the "Like" button on the right hand side of this page http://www.landscapedia.info/plant.php?plantID=1106.

I'll keep you updated as I learn things, but in the meantime, you can see more about Facebook's latest announcement (http://www.mediabistro.com/agencyspy/social_media/facebook_open_graph_everything_we_know_so_far_159278.asp) along with the underlying technology (
http://opengraphprotocol.org/).