Brilliant title, eh? Well, it’s true.

Google launched OpenSocial late last week to a lot of fanfare in the blog-o-sphere. If you subscribe to any feeds related to the web, or specifically social media, you would have seen it mentioned a lot. Probably had you wondering what all the buzz was about — like, why is everybody making such a big deal over this?

Well, Jeremiah Owyang did a good job of explaining the whole OpenSocial concept in executive (i.e. layman) terms, but if you can’t be bothered to read his post here’s why OpenSocial matters:

1. For developers like 76design, we can build widgets (i.e. mini applications) that will run seamlessly on a huge number of social networks without us having to learn how to make them work on each one individually.
2. More importantly though, with the trend towards company websites becoming their own micro social networks and the transition from desktop to browser OpenSocial defines a standard so that those that create content can take advantage of the extra functionality and features that widgets can bring in a very easy way. Ultimately, we build it and you reap the rewards by having a more engaging website that uses social networking practices to bring together your customers, employees and prospects — and you’re creating the conversation.

The web is being widget-ized and OpenSocial is a major step towards making it a level playing field where those that build widgets and those that use widgets can do so much more effectively and be able to tap into a lot of existing networks with a lot less effort. It’s still early on, but it’s pretty clear that OpenSocial has the potential to have a major impact on the social web. And you know that with Google behind the wheel, it will be widely adopted and has little chance of failing. The only question is how soon will it start realize some of its potential.
For the next little while we’re going to be collecting what we deem to be important resources, articles and discussions about OpenSocial and sharing them here on shift+control. Here’s a few that I came across in the last couple of days:

• Netvibes unveils Social Widgets and its next release called Ginger
  Netvibes, a provider of widget-based personalized start pages, are proposing their Universal Widget API as a way to address the issue of developing widget containers.
• OpenSocial Hacked Again
  In addition to this latest hack, TechCrunch reported an earlier one late last week. While the hacks were relatively harmless and don’t appear to reveal any flaws in OpenSocial itself, it’s clear that these developers were keen to be out there before anybody else and should ensure that they are taking the necessary security measures when building applications.
• Lending Club and OpenSocial: Striving to Make Social Networks more Useful
  Interesting perspective on the potential of OpenSocial from a truly social company, Lending Club, who started out as a Facebook app and then moved onto the wide open internet. You can really see how companies like Lending Club are poised to take full advantage of this new standard.