Wednesday, January 30, 2008

MySpace Opens Up API, But Where's IMDB?

MySpace has announced that it will give developers access to its system to create apps to post on user pages ala Facebook. This should widen MySpace' lead over Facebook if the company doesn't make the rookie mistakes of violating user privacy or allowing the creation of nefarious apps.

The biggest missing piece in this whole mash-up/widget/API world is the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). For the majority of people who enjoy movies or TV, IMDB is indespensible, yet the site only licenses content for hefty fees.

This is suprising considering that IMDB is owned by Amazon, which wants to sell as many DVDs as possible. By creating widgets for viewing movie trailers, lists of favorite actors and their roles, and variations of the Kevin Bacon game, Amazon could drive tremendous amounts of traffic to IMDB, and ipso facto to the mother ship for selling content.

I bet that they could double traffic within a few months of they got with the web 2.0 program and created tools for integrating IMDB's content with MySpace and all of the other social networking sites.

This is one of the biggest lost opportunities online. Who else should let their content be mashed up? ESPN? People Magazine?

Via the Associated Press.

Posted By John Gartner at 05:41 AM
Permanent Link: MySpace Opens Up API, But Where's IMDB? | Comments (0)

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