View the open policies of various SNS open platforms from the developer Protocol

View the open policies of various SNS open platforms from the developer Protocol

A few days ago, kaixin.com finally announced its open platform. It is rumored that QQ, Shanda, and caifu are all preparing for the open platform, along with people who have already opened the platform and Sina Weibo, openness has become the focus of discussion. At that time, the network was filled with a large number of articles advocating the benefits of openness, as if no matter what product, the open label would be invincible.

In history, the open source code movement has been a successful case, and IBM open PC has been used as a negative textbook. The open platform does not simply publish APIs technically, but allows third-party access. The open platform is a strategic product, what is open, what is not open, how is it open, who is open, who is not open, what can the company get from open, and what can the three parties get from open, every problem is related to the success or failure of the open platform.

 

Openness has only one purpose: symbiosis and win-win. A word in total reflects that an open platform must be a platform provider and a third-party developer who needs to achieve a win-win situation. Any open platform initiated by a commercial company must bring benefits to the commercial company itself and ensure the company's control over the platform, while opening up, there will also be corresponding agreements to protect the company's interests.

Just as the product reflects the company's strategy, the open platform agreement is the basic commitment between the platform and the three parties. It is also a concrete embodiment of the company's open strategy to protect the company's interests and achieve a win-win platform. The agreement expresses what is open and what is not open, and how to find a balance between encouraging third-party development and the company's interests. Of course, once commercial operations are involved, the SNS platform will sign more detailed agreements with developers. However, common developer agreements are still of reference value, it can express the open opinions of different SNS platforms.

Platform commonalities:

Do not do the basic functions that platforms can do, but do not do for other reasons.
The platform has the right to monitor and analyze data generated by third-party applications.
Secondary licensing and Secondary release platforms are prohibited from providing APIs.
Competition Protection. It is prohibited to use applications to guide the registration of third-party websites.
Differentiate third-party applications from your own brands and use your own brands with restrictions.
Protect and respect user privacy.
Disable any form of spam.
Violation of local laws and regulations is prohibited.

Facebookfacebook, as the forerunner of the open platform, has a more complex and refined license agreement. From general statement of rights and responsibilities to developer prinles les & Policies for developers, advertising philosophy for advertising, and promotions guidelines for promotional campaigns, there are even examples to explain examples and explanations, providing detailed and specific design guidance for user status release, posting, and like buttons.

In addition to those commonalities, real-name Facebook focuses on user privacy and user information filtering. In addition, most third-party applications run on Facebook rather than Twitter.

Emphasize the initiative of sharing, and do not welcome any incentive sharing. For example, you can click the like button to get a certain rebate.
Protect advertisements on your own platform. Third parties cannot embed other advertisements (such as Google Adsense) around their applications ).
Detailed constraints are imposed on publishing information to the new feed to ensure that users are not overly disturbed.
Facebook has the right to embed advertisements around third-party applications.
Reserve the right to develop similar applications as third-party applications.
The platform is not guaranteed to be free permanently.
It has the right to analyze third-party application data, or even for commercial purposes.
In terms of thinking, Facebook pays great attention to the protection of advertisements, possible new models, platform charges, and user experience. Facebook's emphasis on sharing initiative corresponds to the suspicion that kaixin.com has a "scam" repost and the reward system in shopping. Do you want to motivate users to post and click the like button? Facebook does not advocate direct incentives. Maybe it wants to attract users to click like through products and services, and cultivate users' habits of understanding and using like.

Twitter: http://dev.twitter.com/pages/api_terms

You cannot use APIs to publish advertisement information. Ad information needs to be published through Twitter ads.
If the service contains the content that shows tweet, you can attach an advertisement to it. Still, directly inserting an advertisement into timeline must go through Twitter ads.
Due to the singleton of Twitter services, when using connect with Twitter, if it involves something similar to social networking, micro-blogging, or status update, you must explicitly remind users whether to sync to Twitter.
When referencing tweet online, in addition to the user's permission, you must also indicate that Twitter is the source of information.
Twitter's business model is still under exploration. As one of the most likely sources of revenue, Twitter has rules for this. Recently, Twitter will also use promoted tweet to insert advertisements in timeline. I don't know if this is the best answer when everyone is confused about Twitter's business model.

Renren full text: http://app.renren.com/developers/privacy/web

Adhere to the principles of fairness, impartiality and openness, and give a fair evaluation of developers' development works.
Renren confirms that the plug-in application components provided by developers are used by Renren users for free. However, whether or not they are charged in the future depends on the time and amount of fees charged.
As an early open platform in China, Renren's Open Platform has never heard of its open agreement disputes since its birth. It has been two years since the ownership of the original agreement and the latest Renren Open Platform developer hierarchical management plan. "Renren confirmed that the plug-in application components provided by developers will be used by Renren users for free in the current protocol, but will they be charged in the future? time, amount of fees, it is up to Renren to determine the "Terms" and even the incorrect words ("free for Renren users" rather than "free for Internet users "), the only change is to replace the school with everyone.

For openness, it seems that Renren is a tough developer to give up on individual developers. Although there is no full text of the Renren Open Platform developer hierarchical management plan, from the report, Renren mainly uses price concessions to obtain the exclusive right to use new applications in the early stage, this is a method to enhance its own platform in the face of competition from multiple SNS in China.

Is there any other method to follow? One problem is that these applications are generally not highly integrated with each platform to ensure that they run on multiple SNS platforms, such as dynamic message Publishing. Take Texas hold'em as an example. Every time you win a big-name Texas hold'em on Facebook, a dialog box will pop up prompting you to share it with your friends. However, Texas hold'em in Boya lacks such a function in China. Most applications have only one invite friend, which compromises the interaction and communication of the application. If you change the condition to the in-depth integration of the platform, it not only increases the vendor binding, but also increases the application promotion effect and improves the user experience.

Kaixinnet full text: http://www.kaixin001.com/platform/agreement.php? APP = Rapp

Different:

Kaixin.com can be launched only after review. User behavior tracking is prohibited.
Kaixinnet will provide basic operation data for some applications.
The lab is free of charge and reserves the right to charge fees.
Retained conflicts with the main business.
Applications must have content reviews with Chinese characteristics, such as blocking certain keywords. The function is handled by three Parties, but happy to have the right to supervise.
You have the right to sign subsequent contracts.
A significant difference between kaixin.com and kaixin.com is application review. For the sake of Application quality, kaixin.com reviews the content of the application. Applications that have not passed the review cannot appear in the official list and can only be used by specified users.

From the perspective of user experience, there is no problem with the review. However, is it too harsh to have the right to use only a few specific users? More than half of Facebook's outstanding ideas come from a small development team of less than five people. The diversity of such developers also brings unexpected richness and Exploration to the website. Such content review is a huge blow to emerging developers and lacks the sense of identity that many users use. In fact, the SNS platform itself has a screening nature. It may be better to change the review right to the user. For example, if the number of active users is less than 5000, they will not go to the official list, if the application is really good, it will naturally spread viral among users, and it is easy to reach this order of magnitude. On the other hand, the application is terrible and will disappear.

In addition, kaixin.com has not mentioned any charges for the three Parties. The relevant provisions should be subject to an agreement after the approval.

Sina full text: http://open.t.sina.com.cn/wiki/index.php/%E5%BA%94%E7%94%A8%E5%BC%80%E5%8F%91%E8%80%85%E5%8D%8F%E8% AE % AE

A plug-in application is defined.
Like twitter, it imposes restrictions on ads.
Any commercial applications (such as client fees) need to sign additional agreements with Sina.
I don't quite understand Sina's attitude. A significant difference between Weibo and Facebook is that applications are generally running outside of the platform, while Facebook applications are running within the platform. Plug-in applications defined in the Protocol are more similar to those running on the platform like Facebook. Applications on Twitter are concentrated on status update. Will Sina Weibo be connected to such applications as Happy Farm?

Like other open platforms in China, Sina has other protocols for commercial applications.

Summary although we failed to see the final SNS platform and application developer protocols, we can still try to figure out the intention of the major platforms from the current known information.
What is open, what is not open, how is it open, who is open, who is not open, what can the company get from open, and what can the three parties get from open, every problem is related to the success or failure of the open platform.
The domestic SNS platform is a fierce competition, which is totally different from that of foreign Facebook. Renren binds powerful app developers to enhance their competitiveness. More strategies need to be explored.
The degree of development in China is relatively low in foreign countries. In addition to operating some applications, there are many restrictions on commercial applications, which undoubtedly suppress third-party development.
Review or not review. Can I give the right of choice to the user?
Whether it is active or passive sharing. Can interest-driven sharing be introduced? Facebook and kaixin.com have different opinions.
All platforms focus on user experience, especially the release of apps on SNS. Facebook's articles on examples and explanations published by apps on SNS are instructive.