Facebook and the Afterweb

Two years ago Facebook changed the equation with myspace by opening the site to 3rd party developers to build app which would interact with it. This allowed an ecosystem to develop where 3rd party sites are using facebook to allow people to do everything from login with their facebook id to see feedback with facebook itself.

In a recent gamechanger announcement, facebook announcement that it was opening more of its core services to developers.

Early today, Facebook announced that it was opening up the "stream"-the real-time feed of members' status updates, Wall posts and such-to outside developers. Developers can now create new programs that mash-up and remix that core data, making it more useful and fun for members.

Source: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1894307,00.html

For more coverage on this:
- NYTIMES
- Techcrunch Live Facebook Stream
- Readwriteweb