3. Yet another non-open standard – Why is OpenGraph needed? Data describing data, we have RDF. Friend of a friend, we have FOAF and XFN. Federated login, OAuth. This “new format” is not needed and intended to create a standard that Facebook controls. Ask anyone that writes Facebook applications, the API is always changing without notice and one of the worst to develop for. Also when times get tough over at Facebook, how much of your meta data are they going to be willing to sell with a simple Terms of Service modification?

– Why I’m Quitting Facebook by @KeVroN

He makes some very good points. While I’m not planning on quitting Facebook just yet — it still provides too much utility for event planning and communication amongst my less-than-geeky friends — the direction that Facebook is taking lately toward closing up the social web is starting to scare me.

There are already well-known and well-designed solutions for a lot of the things that Facebook is trying to do, and they’re all wide open, accessible, and portable. I wouldn’t use any of those adjectives to describe Facebook’s platform, and that worries me.