More about that in a moment. But first, if you are not familiar with what Facebook has done, let me give you a very brief overview.

What Does Open Graph Do?

Websites can now be uniquely dynamic, not globally static.  In other words, each visitor to a site will experience it in a way that no other visitor ever will.

For example, when a visitor goes to a website and logs in using Facebook, they will see which of their friends “like” the site, a single page or even an individual product. In addition to the “like” feature, any site can customize the user experience by displaying personally relevant information like upcoming birthdays, events or hobbies of their friends. In all, there are sixteen categories of personal information that can be shared on the site, creating an experience that is unique for each visitor.

As a brand marketer that focuses on social media optimization (here is a list of companies that I currently or recently have worked for), I’m incredibly excited about how this changes the scope of how we can interact and engage with consumers.  It’s a brave new world.

Proof That Facebook Now Controls The Internet

Given what websites are now able to create unique and very personal experiences on their sites, it’s no surprise that many are clamoring to understand and incorporate Open Graph Protocol into their online communities. I wouldn’t think that every company would be anxious to use OGP, however; companies that view Facebook as competition in any way are no doubt less-than-thrilled with this announcement.  One such company is Google.

It’s no secret that there is more than a little competition between Google and Facebook.  This Wired piece from February 2010 says it well, “this time it’s personal”.  It’s not a new rivalry, there are many articles going back several years that describe a similar cut-throat mentality of competition.  Given this, I’m truly surprised that even Google has started to incorporate Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol into some of their sites.  Today, I discovered that YouTube, a company that is Google owned, is using OGP is a very creative way.

My friend and social media pro Josh Groth put up a link to a video on his Facebook page today.  I thought it sounded interesting, so I clicked the link that brought me directly to the YouTube page and started watching (the quite excellent) ukulele rendition of MGMT’s Kids.  That’s not the amazing part…what I was shocked to see was the prompt just below the video encouraging me to log into YouTube with my Facebook account! Facebook Connect for YouTube isn’t new, it was implemented last year.  However, this move appears to cement into place the premise that YouTube (and therefore Google) needs Facebook.

Although I didn’t log in, it’s a brilliant move by YouTube, and I’m sure many companies will follow.  If I had permitted the application to log me in via Facebook, I would have given YouTube full permission to contact me anytime via email, and to pull my personal information (and that of my friends) from Facebook whenever they wanted to, day or night. I would be giving them the keys to the kingdom, so to speak.

I asked somebody to log into the same video, first by directly visiting the URL in their browser without going through Facebook.  The result? There was not a prompt to log in with Facebook.  Next, they clicked through the link for the same video (same URL) that I had posted on my wall in Facebook.  This time the prompt for them to sign in via Facebook was there. Want to see for yourself? Click the link here to go directly to the YouTube video page, then click the link here to go to my Facebook social media page so you can click through to the same video, but from Facebook. Do you see what I see? The prompt to log in only displays (for now) for the traffic that comes directly from Facebook.

This means that YouTube is using referral data (how you get to there site, where you are coming from) to determine if you will see the prompt for Facebook connect.  It stands to reason that if you are going to YouTube directly from Facebook, you will be more likely to log in using the Facebook method…which of course increases the amount of information that YouTube can gather, store and use about you.  All in all, it’s very clean and smart marketing.

What This Means

As much as I can appreciate the fact that YouTube is really embracing Facebook’s Open Graph Protocol, it’s hard for me to look past that fact that it is really Google using it.  In my mind, Google’s continuing embrace and use of technology that clearly incorporates and benefits Facebook is quite telling: Facebook has rolled out something that is so beneficial to every brand and company that has a web presence, Facebook now controls the internet.

Checkmate. Well played, Facebook.

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Three separate people who don’t know each other brought this up with me today, in three separate contexts.  All three expressed a desire to decentralize is some capacity, whether it be media, search or something different.  I just read a post over at Chris Brogan’s blog that addresses this as well, and he even mentions cobbling together some Cisco servers and essentially starting over.  Personally, I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I’m old enough and geeky enough to remember a very decentralized internet.  If that original concept were combined with the processing power and bandwidth that is available to us today…things may feel very different.

What if the internet was more of a peer-to-peer network like Lime Wire or Bearshare, although instead of simple file swapping from computer to computer, we did information swapping?  Naturally there would be a massive amount of resistance against this, centralized information is worth entirely too much money…decentralized information that is not owned by anybody cannot be monetized byconventional means.  Simply put, letting go of control would cost too much, and the white-knuckle grip over centralization would be fought to the bitter end.

I’m embeding the same video that Chris did, I think it’s smart and brings up some good questions.  What about free speech?  Is the internet still free, or has centralization created too much potential monetization, and by default, an entirely new set of self-imposed decency standards?

Although organizations like The Pirate Bay use decentralization for thier personal gain, imagine a similar network of search, media and social networking.  Decentralization, no one person or group able to lay claim to it.  Scary, or reality? Only time will tell.

Last.fm Now On Android

Using the Last.fm application, users can listen to streaming radio stations such as personal recommendations, similar artists, and genre-specific tracks. Users can also share tracks with their friends on Last.fm and stream other users’ stations. The new ‘Background Playback’ feature enables users to listen to Last.fm’s streaming music while accessing other programs, such as email, without interrupting the music experience.

Last.fm users can view an on-the-go version of their personal music profiles that includes mobile versions of Last.fm Charts page and Artist pages, with biographies, tags, similar artists and top listeners, all optimized for the Android platform. Users can access Last.fm’s Events listings to browse artists on tour, search for events, view Last.fm recommendations and view mapped directions to music venues.

“We are thrilled to bring Last.fm even further into the mobile music space with the launch of this app. The Last.fm service on Android enables our listeners to use virtually every Last.fm feature on their mobiles,” said Martin Stiksel, Last.fm Co-Founder. “It truly is a ‘to-go’ version of the site. Last.fm on Android takes the mobile music experience to the next level.”

Last.fm on Android follows Last.fm’s successful launch on the iPhone and iPod Touch last year, as well as integrations with Vodafone, T-Mobile, and the Three/INQ1 Social Mobile in Europe. You can find more information on the app at Last.fm.

Transfer Feedburner to Google

After countless months of watching the slow death of Feedburner, it has finally been announced that it will no longer be an active service after February 28, 2009.  If you use Feedburner to manage RSS and email subscriptions you should log into your account and click on the tiny little link at the top of the page that tells you to transfer to Google now. I did it in just a few simple clicks (it’s helpful to be signed into Google when you initiate the transfer, saves a couple of clicks) and after several minutes everything was finished.

Their FAQ page on Google answers should address any questions you have, like if you will lose any subscribers in the process of the transfer (Google assures us that the answer is no) and changes in the Feedburner API.

I’m glad for the change, I think the service has been lacking for some time.  A quick scan of Twitter of Technorati at any given moment will reveal plenty of complaints like “Feedburner says I just lost over 300 subscribers overnight” and the like.  Let’s hope that Google can stabalize the service on their platform and give us accurate reports.

Apparently the working class digerati are notorious enough for sending late night emails while tipsy (especially the Brits) that Google felt it worthy to add some complexity to the process of sending email.  So now (during certain hours…late night and weekends…) you will be required to solve a few moderately complex math problems before the mail will send.

Wow.  I’m not even sure what to say about that.  You can read more info on TechCrunch.